The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[OakesCS]

one of the things Trump can do relatively quickly that will further help with O&G cap-ex expenditures as well as keeping a few more companies from going BK is to roll back the financial accountability regulations that were issued in July of 2016. The new requirements in those regulations effectively preclude smaller oil companies (i.e. those with <~$300M market cap) from participating in offshore US O&G exploration. They are effectively the equivalent of Dodd-Frank for oil companies (without the inconvenience of being passed by Congress) and with the same contra-intended consequences:

Outlook: Oil, Gas Bankruptcy Fears to Linger Through 2017

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?hpf=1&a_id=147599&utm_source=DailyNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2016-11-30&utm_content=&utm_campaign=feature_1

this article was written yesterday and i'm somewhat surprised that it wasnt annotated to recognize the OPEC agreement but the situation discussed will probably hold true regardless of the OPEC deal.

keeping small and mid-sized O&G companies in business and exploring in the GOM will not contribute to the existing oil glut since the relative contribution of production from outer continental shelf reservoirs is relatively small and wouldnt be realized for years.