Conventional Oil and the Price of Crude

I read the following interview from Forbes with the CEO of Schlumberger today and he had some interesting insights into the future for oil and gas service companies.

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He said that even a global recession wouldn't change demand for drilling of traditional oil basins but the higher priced more difficult stuff like shale and tar sands projects would be affected first.

I still think that although the price of SLB has come down with everything else, this industry is the best way to play the end of cheap oil and natural decline rates. When the economy recovers, or when decline rates become more transparent, the actual producers of oil and gas will be better to own.