It seems Putin isn't the one trying to kill fracking in the US - or the only one. Seems that the Saudis don't like the US being a net exporter rather than dependent upon OPEC nations for oil.

If this goes on for long, the Russian economy will crumble.

Though I would also like to hear yours, Fumesucker. You're really smart. What do you think?

Obviously there are multiple reasons but one of the major ones is the oil producers don't want to see renewable carbon neutral energy sources gain market share. Large corporations will lose money for a considerable time in order to gain market share.

Josh is probably smarter than I and better informed on a lot of things but I disagree with him a considerable amount anyway.

It is ironic that recent American success at moving towards energy independence in fossil fuels may have unintentionally damaged the global economy.

American success at increasing domestic oil production, in concert with declining domestic oil demand since the recession in 2008, took much of its previous demand for imports off the world oil market. According to the EIA, in the 8 years from 2006 to 2014 the world's international oil market lost 8.6 million barrels per day (mbpd) of US demand. That 8.6 mbpd represents a decline of 65% in US imports, which manifests as the disappearance of an astonishing 20 to 25% of the international market for oil - and the decline is continuing.

Even in a managed and manipulated market such a drop can't help but depress world oil prices, much to the economic discomfort of such exporters as Russia, Iran, Nigeria and Venezuela.

While the decline in American oil imports isn't the sole cause of the world's economic woes, it's definitely a contributing factor. Unanticipated consequences are common in complex systems like a globalized economy - this appears to be one of them.

http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MTTNTUS2&f=M