Resurgent US oil industry priming the economic pump

Crude oil prices dropped from $110 a barrel in the summer of 2014 to about $30 in January 2016. The effect on oil producers and oil-producing countries was dramatic. The Russian ruble plunged, and the Canadian dollar slipped to below 70 cents US for the first time since 2003, kicking the country into recession and snuffing out the oil boom in Alberta. Many foreign companies operating in the high-cost Canadian oil sands pulled up stakes. One of the hardest hit countries was Venezuela, whose petro-currency crashed, leading to hyperinflation, shortages, protests and violence - a dire situation that continues to this day. Even Saudi Arabia, the world's number 2 oil producer, had to tap its $602 billion in foreign reserves to help finance its 2016 deficit of $88 billion - almost a quarter of GDP.