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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    What's Happened to North America's Oil Boom?

    The price of crude oil has dropped by 50 percent in the past year. Shell won't be exploring for oil in the Arctic Ocean after all. In the Gulf of Mexico, leases for new oil wells aren't selling. Tens of thousands of workers are being laid off, from Texas to North Dakota to Central Canada. Hydraulic fracking equipment is lying idle.

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    By Warren Olney • Oct 21, 2015 • 34m Listen

    The price of crude oil has dropped by 50 percent in the past year. Shell won't be exploring for oil in the Arctic Ocean after all. In the Gulf of Mexico, leases for new oil wells aren't selling. Tens of thousands of workers are being laid off, from Texas to North Dakota to Central Canada. Hydraulic fracking equipment is lying idle. Is it just another decline in a boom-and-bust industry or the beginning of the end of the oil economy? What's the immediate impact on the American consumer?

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Is the Gravy Train over for Oil?
    1. 1:38Biden's Out for 2016 Presidential Race
    2. 8:37What's Happened to North America's Oil Boom?You’re reading this
    3. 43:47Mr. Assad Goes to Moscow
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • KCRW placeholder

      Andrea Brody

      Senior Producer, KCRW's Life Examined and To the Point podcast

    • KCRW placeholder

      Sarah Sweeney

      Vice President of Talk Programming, KCRW

    • KCRW placeholder

      Christine Detz

      Producer, 'To the Point'

    • KCRW placeholder

      Severin Borenstein

      faculty director, Haas Energy Institute at UC Berkeley

    • KCRW placeholder

      Deborah Yedlin

      Calgary Herald

    • KCRW placeholder

      David Wethe

      Bloomberg News

      NewsNationalPolitics

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Is the Gravy Train over for Oil?
    1. 1:38Biden's Out for 2016 Presidential Race
    2. 8:37What's Happened to North America's Oil Boom?You’re reading this
    3. 43:47Mr. Assad Goes to Moscow
    Back to To the Point