Illinois Hired 36 Employees, Five Lawyers To Handle "Rush" Of Fracking Firms. Nobody Showed Up.

[hatrack]

They threw a fracking party in Illinois, and hardly anyone showed up. More precisely, two months after the state completed a long regulatory process and opened the door to hydraulic fracturing, only one company applied. The state hired 36 employees and five lawyers to handle the expected rush of applicants, reported the Chicago Tribune, “for work that doesn’t exist.”

This after a land rush by energy companies in Southern Illinois that saw them buy tens of thousands of acres anticipating a North Dakota-style energy boom that would create 10,000 jobs. The disinterest is attributed to the sharp decline in oil and gas prices globally, which makes fracking unprofitable — at best a break-even proposition, at worst a big money-loser.

“Smart people don’t invest in things that break-even,” said energy expert Arthur Berman in Oilprice.com. “I mean, why should I take a risk to make no money on an energy company when I can invest in a variable annuity or a REIT that has almost no risk that will pay me a reasonable margin? Oil prices need to be around $90 to attract investment capital. So, are companies OK at current oil prices? Hell no! They are dying at these prices.

EDIT



http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/01/26/americas-fracking-boom-is-having-its-worst-months-ever/

[djean111]

1. Too bad the damage to the earth and the water and the possibility of earthquakes is not

the reason, eh? Bet yer sweet bippy that, if oil prices rise again, fracking contracts will have guaranteed oil price level clauses in them, so the taxpayer will be on the hook if this happens again.