Thousands of recently highly paid workers have been laid off after the oil price plummeted 50 percent in 2014. At least four American oil-producing states are already facing budget problems due to decreasing oil revenues. The price plunge has affected petroleum production in all oil-extracting countries, including the US. Currently cheap fuel is still believed to be providing an overall boost to the... 

The California Senate killed a bill that would enact a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the state. The ban’s proponents blame lobbying by the oil industry, which spent nearly $1.5 million in three months fighting the bill. The proposed legislation, introduced by Democratic state Sens. Holly J. Mitchell and Mark Leno, would have prohibited all well stimulation treatments (which includes...