I had an interesting chat with the Geophysisct who was involved...

I had an interesting chat with the Geophysisct who was involved with the Carnarvon discovery off our coast and which made big news at the time. He is not that bearish on oil exploration amongst the big players as in his words they have a very long view and says that those players typically have a seven year view. This is the average time from planning an exploration target to production. Another comment he made was that whilst it's possible for the price of oil to stay at these levels for 2 to 3 years the big players will know that this will eliminate a lot of the smaller players and leave rich pickings for the survivors. MCE are unquestionably the premier players in their space and survival will have its own rewards. I know that is not necessarily good news for the average punter but I have been involved from the seed capital days and still have a belief that sooner or later there will again be pay dirt for the faithful.
My man is very familiar with the shale oil process and costs and says that below $70 a barrel they are marginal to say the least.