The US should avoid repeating past mistakes

North America's storied oil history highlights lessons that need to be learned in the current economic crisis

There remains a strong folk memory in Texas oil country of the 1930s, when a possible price crash into single figures did not mean dollars, but cents. And that may have been on the mind of Ryan Sitton, a Republican Texas railroad commissioner, when he tweeted in late March, “Just got off the phone with Opec secretary-general Barkindo... We all agree an international deal must get done to ensure economic stability as we recover from Covid-19. He was kind enough to invite me to the next Opec meeting in June.” Back in the 1930s, the rush to produce from small licences in the giant East Texas oilfield combined with a demand collapse to plunge prices to 13¢/bl. Gas stations were reduced to offeri