[TheDude]

Obviously with fewer speculators in the market hedgers' options will be more limited. The role big banks play in funding OCs' production/exploration/maintenance is something I'm more in the dark about; I've heard allusions to it putting a crimp on budgets in some fashion, but can't suss out how dependent oil companies are on loans for physical investments, beyond what they can do scratch up from their own profits, which have never been more substantial, not that they're necessarily directing them towards E&P of course. Could the big bailouts/bankruptcies impact oil/gas production on a substantial scale?

Snooped around Marathon's Investor Center to try and get some figures; also searched for stories on, say, 'Morgan Stanley oil industry' but I just get pieces on their departure from the Platts trading window.

[shortonoil]

TheDude said:

Snooped around Marathon's Investor Center to try and get some figures; also searched for stories on, say, 'Morgan Stanley oil industry' but I just get pieces on their departure from the Platts trading window.

Matt Simmons would be the place you would want to look. Simmons and Co. is the largest energy investor in the world. It would probably pay to go with a professional.

If this turns out as bad as it looks like it could, complete collapse of the FED’s FRN, not much will be happening until the Treasury can issue a new currency.

You aren’t going to buy too many drilling rigs with piles of hundred dollar bills.

[TheDude]

Matt's presentations are of course a bit soundbite-ish, he doesn't allude to the external credit world in any as far as I can tell, past bringing up the need to reinvest in infrastructure and calling for Marshall Plans, the funding of which isn't fleshed out in detail. He may have expanded on this in a Financial Sense interview, and without question will be asked about current events soon enough.

Gail Tverberg brings up global economics in her pieces at TOD, The Connection Between Financial Markets and Energy - Open Thread from 3 days ago for instance.

(5) Energy companies need well-functioning credit markets to expand their exploration and production, and to pursue alternative energy approaches. For example, expanding the use of wind energy, or electric-powered vehicles, is likely to need a huge amount of debt financing.

That's in reference to building the new, not sustaining the old. The comments were of course very interesting - George.Mobus wrote an excellent one on available energy - Permalink |, Savinar got in first with the role of the drug trade, which is big bucks, Matt loves drugs! - but all sidetracked the impact on keeping the current flows going, aside from Jeff Brown mentioning how production kept rising through the GD, but could that have been a more different world?

I think this is a massive sleeper issue. Will you be able to get Japanese manufactured casing for your 2kbbl/day rig in the middle of a depression?

The point at which at a transition to more sustainable forms of energy takes hold would be very bad news for producers of FFs as well.