Take assertions that the ongoing global oil boom will bring down global crude prices with a grain of salt. With the marginal cost of crude close to $100 per barrel – so says Bernstein Research – any sustained drop far below that level will prompt drillers to rein in activity until prices rise again. [Quartz]

There’s a whole lot of shale oil in the world, according to the Energy Information Administration. But “just because it’s there in the ground, doesn’t mean you’ll make a profit drilling it out…Energy companies must meet their ‘breakeven points’ – ensuring the cost of recovering the resource is less than what people will pay for it.” [Christian Science Monitor]

Triple-digit oil prices are here to stay. “Saudi Arabia has the swing vote on the oil price. It is happy with oil at around $100 a barrel. The world economy seems able to cope with prices at that level, which also deliver the revenues needed to buy off restive populations.” [Economist]