The End of US Shale Oil

Today there is a meeting by video of the OPEC states and Russia. Tomorrow the energy ministers of all G-20 states will likewise meet. Their discussions will be about the sinking global oil price caused by a lack of demand due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and record oil output from Saudi Arabia and Russia. It is unlikely that OPEC will agree on any cut unless the U.S. and other large producers join the deal. The U.S. is, for now, unlikely to do that. Until the end of the last OPEC+ agreement this month and the onset of the pandemic demand slump, the three top producers were the U.S. with 12.7 million barrels per day, Russia with 10.9 mbpd and Saudi Arabia with 9.8 mbpd. Since 2016 OPEC and Russia had reduced their production to keep the oil price in the $60/b range. This effectively subsidized the U.S. shale industry. U.S. production kept growing while production by Russia and Saudi Arabia was artificially limited. It allowed the U.S. to grab more global market share at profitable prices. April 9 https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/04/opec-or-a-dead-shale-industry.html#more

Those unfamiliar with astrology are surprised when a  horoscope reveals the upheavals that an individual or an entity faces. Astrologers know that time has a quality and a horoscope of the birth moment faithfully describes how that quality will unfold.

Presented here is the chart for the discovery of US oil and is therefore the birthchart of the US Oil industry. The most significant current transit in this chart is Uranus moving over Pluto in the 8^th house.  Pluto represents power, obsession, and desire for control. Its placement in the 8^th requires an end to the desire for control. And let us remember that Pluto will not be thwarted. If we do not bring about these changes ourselves, they will be forced upon us. Ebertin’s key phrase for Uranus-Pluto is “the collapse of an old order”. This becomes all the more relevant since the 8^th house is normally associated with death. Among other things, the 8^th house is also linked to money borrowed from others as well as bankruptcy..so that it becomes easy to see where the US shale oil is headed.

In addition to analyzing the birthchart astrologers routinely cast the birthday chart or the solar return chart for the exact moment the Sun returns to its radix position every year. These charts are valid for a year and can be progressed by standard methods.

Here is the chart for the current solar return for US oil. As always planets aspecting the horizon or meridian are the ones to focus on. Here we notice that Neptune (the planet linked to oil) is on the MC making a hard aspect to Jupiter.

Expansive Jupiter and dreamy Neptune are two of the most idealistic and no-limits planets. A square aspect (90-degree angle) between these two giants is tension-filled.  This cosmic clash  stirs up confusion and delusion, snapping us out of denial with uncomfortable but necessary reality checks. Most often under Jupiter-Neptune, we hit “rock bottom” with an addictive or self-defeating pattern and are forced to get out of the pattern.  This is a combination that is linked to big (Jupiter) failures (Neptune).  Keywords that describe the action of Neptune include “dissolution” and “disintegration”.

Now let us progress the solar return chart to April 9, the date of the news. Notice that the horizon axis now aligns with the Jupiter-Neptune square thereby triggering it and bringing up the crisis to the forefront.