Short selling, (selling shares you have yet to purchase) could be a very risky or bankrupting business, if the expected panic simply doesn't happen, and the expected (panic) share sell off, never ever occurs!
Thereby forcing these market manipulators to take a (yes please yes) huge (billion dollar) bath, which if repeated a few times; would as some oil ministers have reasoned, be a problem that will right itself?
Given those creating it, (illegal) short sellers, will have achieved their own thoroughly deserved demise, and not before time!
As for American drillers, they have discovered multiple pad and horizontal drilling, which will allow them to replace or improve their profit position; a la the Saudis, with volumes that more than supplant margins.
There's an old saying in business, "any profit is a good profit", and just as applicable to the oil industry as anywhere!
And given cheaper energy and lots more of it equates to improved economic activity, it will then in turn equate to greater volumes of liquid or potable energy sales!
i.e., the problem will fix itself!
Unfortunately, it will not help to effectively rein in global warming!
As the good book tells us, there are none so blind as those who will not see!
Better all these hard pressed drillers would instead, invest limited venture capital in some of the alternatives, thorium and biogas, followed say, by algae based oil production.
Which as some industry experts have counselled could equate, with broad scale production, as diesel and jet fuel, even with a fuel excise included, retailing for just 44 cents a litre!
Let the oil rationing/price manipulating oil Sheikhs/Russian oligarchs, compete with that!
Rhrosty.