Overview With oil prices falling over the past couple of months, then falling even more steeply in October, suddenly the media is abuzz about the impacts of low oil prices—and finally taking a closer look at what prices might be required to keep the shale oil boom going. It’s no secret that fracking is expensive. Wells in North Dakota’s oil-rich Bakken formation run about $8 to 10 million a pop . But oil prices have been falling drastically in the past few months, and especially fast in October, when prices were said to be “ plunging ,” “ plummeting ,” or in “ something close to freefall .” If prices in the past few days are an indication of the average for the month, then prices will be the lowest in four years. Check out these price histories: Monthly average crude oil spot prices for WTI and Brent from […]