BOB2 wrote: "when the price goes back up to $70 or so, in the Spring, as many predict, those producers should continue to do just fine."

Michael Levi, a senior fellow and the director of the Center for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in the Washington Post on 5 Dec 2104: the question "we ought to ask: Why were so many people wrong about oil prices? Bad assumptions about how the U.S. oil industry works, and about the power of OPEC and Saudi Arabia, drove our misconceptions about where prices were heading — and continue to confuse us about where they’ll go next."

WaPo: Why the world missed the oil price crash
The Guardian: Oil price plunge continues as IEA forecasts weaker demand in 2015

Do we really know how much oil Saudi Arabia has in the ground? How much is Iran really pumping (despite all the sanctions)? Did China's GDP really grow at 9% per year for the last 10 years? (How did Jack Welch manage to grow GE's earnings 15% per year, year after year? Some people assert they managed earnings by moving profits in and out of GE's finance unit. Do you really believe China's economic data?) What is the real break-even cost for Athabasca crude (Alberta tar sands)? What is the production profile (years) for fractured oil wells before they go dry? What is the long-term trend for US gasoline demand, with all the hybrids, EVs, change in EPA CAFE requirements, reduction in annual miles driven per vehicle, and demographics where younger Americans are delaying when they get their driver's license? There are hundreds of questions that factor into oil supply and demand analysis, and no one has all the answers.

The reality is, despite the best efforts of many people who think otherwise, nobody, especially the 'experts' really knows the global demand and supply for oil. You think they do? Well, have I got a deal for you on a slightly used bridge in Brooklyn.