Today's Pickup: Shale Gas Production Might Have Dark Days Ahead

Good day,

The U.S. shale gas production might finally be heading to a point where the industry struggles with keeping up with its success – a supply glut. Oversupply of shale gas has led to a fall in prices, with the industry uncertain on when the prices will get back up. Add to this the fact that drilling companies had downplayed their increasingly morbid financial situation, and the industry has conditions that mirror a perfect recipe for trouble. 

All these years, the fracking companies have been taking investor money by selling them the dream of a massive production potential in the Permian Basin and convincing them about easy breakeven possibilities – even when there was not enough evidence to back that claim. With the promises not translating on the ground, investors are looking to cut back on their spending in the segment. During this quarter's earnings reports, large shale oil companies have expressed frustration at the series of problems arising in their operations and with the downturn in prices. 

Did you know?

Investment in the U.K. car industry has suffered a decline ahead of Brexit, with it falling to £90 million in the first six months of the year from £347 million last year. Manufacturing fell by one-fifth during the time, with 666,521 cars coming off the production lines, compared to 834,573 cars during the same period in 2018. 

Quotable

"In trade negotiations, nothing is decided until everything is decided, although it's possible there will be some baby steps, some partial landing zones, to build confidence." 

– James Green, a former U.S. diplomat and trade official, commenting on the U.S.-China trade tariff talks

In other news

Buyers resist the move to new tech

Car makers are spending billions of dollars every year developing this new technology but it appears that buyers simply don't want it. (News.com.au)

No-deal Brexit an ‘existential threat' to U.K. car industry

Carmaker body says a messy exit would lead to huge tariff costs and put production at risk. (Financial Times)

Ecommerce websites in Europe hit by GDPR

Ever since the EU's General Data Protection Regulation came into force 14 months ago, ecommerce websites in Europe have recorded lower page views, site visits and revenue. (Ecommerce News EU)

Tesla abandoned over $60 million of R&D projects last quarter

Tesla Inc TSLA confirmed in a new filing this week that it abandoned over $60 million of research and development efforts, but the automaker didn't disclose specific projects. (Electrek)

How is machine learning influencing supply chain management?

ML also helps to keep the supply chain updated about weather forecasts, traffic situations and other important factors directly or indirectly impacting the delivery schedule. (Entrepreneur)

Final Thoughts

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN is betting big time on India, looking to enter the country's on-demand food delivery market by buying the Indian operations of Uber Eats. Today, several startups – Zomato, Foodpanda, Swiggy and Uber Eats – wrestle for market dominance in India, with Swiggy leading the race by delivering 800,000 orders per day. Though Uber Eats India has been burning through a lot of cash in recent years, it has nothing much to show in terms of market capitalization, as it only delivers around 150,000 to 200,000 orders per day. Amazon, which is eager to expand its last-mile distribution network, will look to learn lessons from food delivery operations and channel them into its Amazon Prime one-day delivery operations. 

Hammer down everyone!

Image Sourced From Pixabay