I would say cost to produce oil in these tight formations have lowered. Not to say they have become cheap, but average costs in places like the Bakken appear to have lowered some.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/02/energy-crude-bakken-idUSL1N0MU21Z20140402
Thanks. $58 is pretty competitive with some offshore wells.
We had occasion to visit the Rio area last month and happened to notice two deep sea oil rigs parked nearby. The locals seemed to think that they were there for maintenance purposes - not permanent installations. Do you have current information as to what is happening now off the coast of Brazil?