There is something about the energy business that is conducive to the creation of myths. So Roger Sant, a long-time and highly respected participant in the energy policy game and in the industries that energy legislation and regulation affect, told a group of Houston oil men recently. Energy myths do die, but only to be replaced by new ones. For decades the myth that drove policy and the energy companies’ investment policies was scarcity. Now the myth is perpetual abundance.

Old Myth: The world, and especially America is running out of oil. New Reality: Thanks to fracking, which extracts oil and gas from shale, we have larger reserves of oil than we did years ago, despite rising consumption. The new worry is an impending oil glut.