Business Insider. (2022, June 11). A fracking boom made the US the world;s biggest oil producer. Now its end is pushing gas prices much higher. Retrieved August 17,2022 from https://www.businessinsider.com/why-gas-prices-rising-energy-fracking-boom-ending-oil-shortage-2022-6
Fracking has been very important in the US in the last 10 years, as the industry has grown very much. However, These companies are partially to blame for the recent increase in gas prices. Recent events such as Russia invading Ukraine has led demand on oil to skyrocket. Unfortunately, fracking companies in the US are not producing fast enough to keep up with the demand, therefore increasing prices. This is due to complaints from shareholders of these companies, who were upset that the companies had been focusing more on growth than profits. After a huge oil boom in 2019, the companies decided to not focus as much on growth, and instead put more effort into becoming more profitable, like the shareholders wanted. This worked at first, as the pandemic hit and energy demand decreased dramatically. But now demand has risen and is very high right now, and the companies have not sped up their production, therefore causing gas prices to go up.
My opinion on the information in the article is that companies should focus now on growth and production, as it is desperately needed at this time. This relates to environmental science because it puts pressure on us to find new ways to provide energy. Since oil prices are so high right now, it would be beneficial for both the environment and peoples financial situations to switch to a more environment-friendly source of energy. Driving electric cars is one example of how we could change. Electric care benefit the environment, and owners of electric cars do not need to worry about high gas prices.
I disagree with your point that natural gas-drilling companies should grow, but I agree that we should use this scramble for gas to motivate efforts to find new power sources. What are other forms of energy that you would recommend we focus our energies on in lieu of natural gas/oil?
Thank you for reading my post. I appreciate that you disagreed with my point because it makes the conversation more interesting. I think we should focus on wind and solar energy instead of fracking.
I think this is a scenario where supply will not meet the demand as oil is a finite resource so I do not agree with your statement that the solution is to mine more. Although I do agree that economics is important to take into consideration as it is hard to afford gas and not everyone can buy an electric car.
Thank you for reading my post. I think you made a good point. The main reason I said the companies should drill more is just to decrease the gas prices for now. It would just be temporary since the war in Ukraine is causing gas prices to skyrocket.