this all started when the Saudis telegraphed....NO WAY!then speculation turned into reality! That is what pushed crude down so much so quickly. Many of the shale producers in the US are significantly leveraged and are very marginal producers. It stands to reason when you send $5-$7 million per well completion and decline is 80% after 2 years that the economics demand a high crude price. Continental resources the Bakken stalwart had its share price drop 20% yesterday alone. The money markets will be completely closed to probably 70% of the US shale oil producers and they will have no choice but to stop drilling. These companies have to drill a huge number of well just to stay production flat. The Saudis have effectively forced the swing producer status over to the US. So picture this. Would you not think twice in the future before you invest in a swing production environment fully controlled by the Saudis. Likely not as the smart seed money would be very cognisant what will happen in the future if the US Shale production begins to grow again to a point that the Saudis start cutting prices again. The Shale oil revolution has just been castrated. Remember that if Brent is at $72 and WTI around $69, then the Shale oil regional crude prices are another $3-$5. There is no way the US Shale oil production levels are not going to hit the wall at these crude price levels. The US natgas producers did themselves in somewhat the same way but that time you had a finite landlocked market that did them in. I have the feeling that crude prices are going to become more cyclic as a result of the Saudis having a choke chain around the neck of the shale oil industry in the US. There is no way that crude can stay at these levels for long without supply being curtailed and a supply reduction occurring. Crude will end up back in the $80-$85 dollar range an likely spike above this range but rest assured that the Saudis will pull on the choke chain nice and hard. The only thing that will remove the choke chain is a news item like a major world supplier being found out that their reserve base was over stated the market sees a major shortfall in supply looming. Which by the way would not surprise me at some point.