Hydraulic fracturing in the United States has a global impact, as the latest Bloomberg Businessweek reminds us.

As the global competition heats up, oil prices the world over will probably drop. Morse says that $90 will be the new ceiling for oil prices rather than the floor it’s been in recent years, a transition he anticipates will be “highly disruptive.”

The geopolitical fallout from this shift in the global oil trade could be disruptive too. Angola, Nigeria, and Venezuela are heavily dependent on oil revenues to keep their governments afloat and maintain popular subsidies that lower the price of food and fuel for their citizens. If Morse is right and the average global price of oil drifts below $90 a barrel, the pressure on the weaker oil states could become intense.

Lower gas prices and a step toward the possible downfall of Hugo Chavez‘s evil Venezuelan regime? That sounds like a nice twoferl.