Permian Basin oil play could be larger than huge Saudi Arabia field

CNN/Money:

The Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico has emerged as the new poster boy of the U.S. shale oil revolution. Land prices in the Permian have skyrocketed, drilling activity has tripled since last year and production there is poised to soar despite cheap oil prices.

Some are even predicting this hotbed of shale activity could eventually surpass the colossal Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest oilfield.

The Permian's rise on the global stage couldn't come at a worse time for OPEC, which just last November cobbled together a delicate deal to deal with the oil glut by cutting production.

The latest resurgence of U.S. shale oil output from the basin has caught OPEC off guard. Its strength even prompted U.S. government experts to recently predict that American oil production could soar to a new record by 2018.
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The key is that the unique geology of the Permian allows frackers to hit multiple layers of oil as they drill into the ground. That's what sets the Permian apart from other major oilfields, making it lucrative to drill there even at today's sub-$50 prices.
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OPEC lost its bet on predatory pricing to try to run the shale producers out of the market.  They got more efficient and now can produce oil cheaper than all but a few OPEC countries.  The OPEC reign has ended and now they are just trying to hang on to oil a less than half the price it was before the shale revolution.

Democrats like Barack Obama were dead wrong that the US could not drill its way to cheaper oil.  The drillers are not only supplying cheaper oil, but creating thousands of jobs and making US industry competitive again, leading to a manufacturing renaissance.