As WTI prices continue to hover around the $75 mark, who would have thought that the new best friend of the U.S., oil and gas industry might be ... wait for it ... OPEC.   "The lower the price falls, the greater the pressure on OPEC to announce an output reduction," said Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York.  But don't look for OPEC to save the day too soon.

Some commentators, including John Kiduff at Again Capital, believe increasing amounts of oil are hitting the market from all corners of the globe.  Moreover, as Kiduff notes, OPEC seems to be looking for Saudi Arabia to lead the way on OPEC production cuts, which he says "is not going to happen."

Even so, there is no question that Saudi Arabia's  production  can have a major impact on world prices.  As reported by CNBC, Francisco Blanch, head of global commodities and asset allocation research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, sees some action by the Saudis coming soon:  "Our view is it doesn't go a lot lower at this point. The Saudis have to start burning savings to pay for government expenditures, or else they have to cut back some spending. We are working under the assumption that we're going to see some reduction in volumes if prices drop any further from here. That should help rebalance the market meaningfully."

The domestic oil and gas industry, naturally, is paying close attention to oil prices.  Many analysts have noted the changing – and decreasing – E&P plans for 2015 by many domestic companies, and caution that an extended drop in prices could reduce investments, which would eventually reduce supply. Stephen Schork, president of Schork Group, Inc., was quoted by CNBC:  "We're at a precipice[.]  If prices stay at this level you'll see an impact on investment in the prolific U.S. and Canadian plays."

Of course, it is worth noting that if prices stay where they are members of the oil and gas industry might be nervous over the holidays, for the rest of the public, and the economy as a whole, they could be a "godsend" as says Dennis Gartman, the editor and publisher of "The Gartman Letter."  "The American public will respond to the decline in gasoline prices very soon," he noted. "Expect them to their restaurants more often, expect Christmas to be stronger than we thought."

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