For one reason, wells in tight formations like shale with 2 mile long horizontals and 2 or 3 dozen hydraulic fracturing stages are not cheap. If the price for oil was dropped significantly, this oil would stay in the ground.
Does that mean that if someone were to find a huge conventional oil find, like they just found in the gulf, that this could conceivably shut down a lot of the current shale boom?
That in combination with massive money-printing over the last 8-10 years, especially the last 6.