Government Shut Down

[dan_s]

Forbes: For Oil And Gas, The Government Shutdown Is A Near-Non-Event

Given that the nation's news media are focused about 23 out of every 24 hours each day on breathless reports about the "shutdown" of some small percentage of the federal government, some of you may be wondering how this "shutdown" is going to impact the oil and gas industry. The short answer to that question is, "not much."

Upstream operating companies are going to continue to drill and frac and produce oil and natural gas from their wells, just as if nothing has happened in the nation's capital. All of their people are going to keep having to show up for work on each and every business day. This will disappoint some of them, but most will be pretty happy about continuing to receive their paychecks. The oil and natural gas from those hundreds of thousands of wells will continue to mostly flow into pipelines, although a small percentage of the oil will keep getting transported via thousands of trucks or rail cars. Yes, the railroads will keep running, and the nation's interstate highway system remains open, despite the catastrophic impressions you may be getting from the myriad sensational reports on the various cable news networks.
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In my opinion, a lot of the Federal Government needs to be shut down. - Dan