The resurgence of the oil industry can be traced back to what happened in Congress one day in December 2015.
That’s when lawmakers ended the 40-year ban on U.S. oil exports. Crude pumped in Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota could suddenly be shipped overseas.
At the time, excess supply was wreaking havoc on the energy industry. Too much American oil was sitting around in storage, pumped out of the ground but with no one to buy it. Crude eventually crashed to $26 a barrel.