In spite of lower crude oil prices over the last year, based on the laws of supply and demand, U.S. oil and gas companies had been adjusting to a new normal. OPEC-plus was making room for increased U.S. production. Iran, Venezuela and a few other producers were part of the equation for supply outages. Shale stock-oriented shareholders were not happy, those of the gas-weighted sort especially. But overall, supply shocks were “managed” while Wall Street was driving energy stocks down based on sentiment coupled with some algorithmic trading effects.
The narrative has changed.
The assault