The New Era of Oil Renaissance

The New Era of Oil Renaissance

by Econ Matters

By EconMattershttp://www.econmatters.com/2012/12/the-new-era-of-oil-renaissance.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EconForecastFullFeed+%28Posts+by+EconMatters+Only+%28Full+Content%29%29

Where Nuclear Failed, Oil Succeeded

In a continuation of our series on the state of the oil industry we look at some of the other ramifications of what we are labeling the Oil Renaissance in the US, and around the world for that matter.  This phrase was first proposed regarding the potential Nuclear turnaround here in the US, where companies like NRG Energy, Toshiba and many more players all along the supply chain were positioning themselves for the Nuclear Renaissance of cheap, and abundant Nuclear energy for the next 50 years.

Well, the natural disaster in Japan changed that movement in the span of a week of just untenable radioactivity readings coming out of Japan.  An already uphill battle for changing public sentiment towards the dangers of nuclear energy became an impractical fight from an investment standpoint that relied upon large DOE loan guarantees to attract private investment.

It is ironic, but all these companies spent a lot of time and effort from lobbying to developing strategic partnerships with each other, and in the end, most of that 7 year effort had to be written off by firms. It really shows how firms have to get the industry right; Oil was so much the smarter play. Higher margins, better technology, much easier safety hurdles, and even the environmental fight is much more manageable.

Not to mention the number of jobs created is far more with an Oil Renaissance as opposed to a Nuclear Renaissance, even with a complete buildup of the entire nuclear supply chain. Nuclear projects are just not scalable like oil projects are from a numbers standpoint due to the regulation, lead times for components, inspection, build times, and many more constraints.

No DOE Loan Guarantees: The Free Market at Work