Sudden Collapse of Oil Prices Surprised Stock Market, but Not Industry Insiders

The collapse in oil prices was a major shock that took a lot of people by surprise. For years the story line had been that the world was running out of oil and America was dependent on foreign oil produced by governments not friendly to U.S. interests. With dwindling supplies, the price of oil had to be higher in the future. Sellers of energy stocks and other oil and gas investments had a compelling story to tell potential investors.

Despite this oil-depletion story line, however, the sudden and sharp decline in oil prices was not really unexpected. According to Gregory Zuckerman, author of The Frackers, the U.S. experienced the largest crude oil production increase in history in 2012, and, in 2013, the U.S. increased daily output from 5 million barrels per day to 7.5 million – on a track to outproduce Saudi Arabia by 2020. As for natural gas, production increases have led to price declines of 75% since 2008. Better technologies like horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking – a process for accessing oil and gas trapped in dense rock – have allowed these production increases and price declines to occur.

Oil and gas investment offerings have become more common in these days of low interest rates, as investors have been unable to generate enough income from bond interest and stock dividend payments. Also, state securities regulators have long warned that high oil prices have allowed promoters to generate interest in investments in energy-related business ventures.

Sellers of investments are legally required to be accurate and completely truthful in marketing investments, disclosing all important risks, and are prohibited from recommending investments that are unsuitable for the investor. But sellers do not always do that. Investors who lost money in energy-related investments that were either unsuitably risky for them, or whose sellers misrepresented or failed to disclose important risks, have valid legal claims to recover those losses.