Are We Optimistic Or Delusional?

Last week, the U.S. E&P community came to Houston for their annual pilgrimage to the Mardi Gras of oil and gas – Winter NAPE (or as the AAPL prefers, NAPE Summit). AAPL estimates that NAPE attracted more than 15,000 attendees, 850 exhibitors and 225 marketed prospects (the latter showing how far NAPE has journeyed from its roots).

Naturally, commodity prices were the dominant topic of conversation. My own personal observation was that the majority of people I talked to or heard talking about prices were optimistic and anticipated a fairly quick recovery; at least to a "happy medium" in the $70-80 range. Curiously, some of the people whose opinions I respect the most (and you know who you are) were inclined to believe we have not yet seen the bottom of the price plunge.