ORAC wrote
"especially since the only real market that had left - gas/oil - is dying due to the discovery/exploitation of shale."
that only applies in the USA ORAc - Saudi/Russia/Iraq can still produce zillions of barrels of conventional oil at prices that are way below shale oil costs - which is why so far it hasn't taken off anywhere else
The US produces shale oil because it has almost run out of conventional - but the cost per bbl for Saudi production is lass than a$ 1 a barrel I believe
Shale oil needs something like 10-15 times that price to work even in the States