Even an increasingly inhospitable and costly exploratory environment - an environment that reflects more than a century of draining the more immediately accessible sources of crude oil - did not seem to weigh significantly on distant price prospects. Such long-term price tranquility has faded dramatically over the past four years.
It needs to be appreciated in this context that the delinquencies in this segment are largely attributable to the inadequacy of finance and lack of support from the banks to the viable  6  BIS central bankers’ speeches  units at an appropriate stage.