First Solar, Inc. (FSLR), General Electric Company (GE): ‘Fair’ Is In This Person’s Eye

He who fracks first, laughs last
Complicating matters for Iran, and for OPEC, is the revolution in “fracking” — drilling for oil and gas with the assistance of hydraulic fracturing technology — in the U.S. As companies from Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) to SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE:SD) pioneer the practice, and move it into the mainstream, they’re doing their part to make the U.S. truly independent of oil price hikes by countries like Iran.

Indeed, in a recent report on energy trends over the next couple decades, British oil giant BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) basically came out and predicted that thanks to the efforts of the frackers, the U.S. will become “energy independent” by 2030.

Granted, so far this hasn’t been terrific news for the companies doing the heavy lifting. The high cost of getting this effort off the ground, coupled with a glut of natural gas that is being produced, has left both Chesapeake and Sandridge struggling to earn a profit.

But the situation’s at least as troublesome for Iran and its cohorts in OPEC. Sure, they can curtail oil production to try to put a floor under oil prices. But the only sure result of cutting oil production at OPEC is that OPEC will sell less oil, and probably collect less oil revenue. On the other hand, there’s no guarantee that a price hike will hurt us. And there’s no guarantee that new U.S. production won’t take up much of the slack for the rest of the world, either.

It almost begs the question: What if OPEC held a price hike party, and nobody (in the U.S.) came?

The article Iran Wants More Money From You originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Rich Smith.

Motley Fool contributor Rich Smith is short shares of First Solar. The Motley Fool owns shares of General Electric Company and has the following options: Long Jan 2014 $20 Calls on Chesapeake Energy, Long Jan 2014 $30 Calls on Chesapeake Energy, and Short Jan 2014 $15 Puts on Chesapeake Energy.

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