Just six months ago world crude prices shot past $140 a barrel, and nobody in the Kansas network of mom-and-pop oil producers imagined a collapse this swift.
Many figured that prices could, and probably should, dip. But those who attended the August convention of the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association had little reason to dispute the guest speaker from the University of Houston, who assured them that oil wouldn't fall below $100 a barrel for at least a year, if ever.