For the past few years, Texas has reaped the rewards of a huge oil boom centered on the shale formations in the Permian Basin. Companies gobbled up acreage across the region and expanded fracking operations at an unprecedented rate. West Texas became an extraction colony that single-handedly shifted global energy politics.
But what was seen as an economic miracle and a beacon of American energy dominance is now at risk of implosion. The twin threats of a global pandemic and a global supply glut threaten to topple the financial house of cards that the Texas oil boom sits atop.
The country’s energy sector had been on the ropes for several weeks amid a downturn in demand caused by the coronavirus outbreak in China. The Saudi Arabia-Russia price war pushed it over the edge as stock prices fell off a cliff. Now, as coronavirus continues to spread across Europe and the United States—stoking fear and uncertainty along the way—no one knows just how bad things could get.
