I found that phrase in this Bloomberg article about the redoubtable oil finds in Brazil:
Brazil’s discoveries of what may be two of the world’s three biggest oil finds in the past 30 years could help end the Western Hemisphere’s reliance on Middle East crude, Strategic Forecasting Inc. said. …
Brazil’s state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA in November said the offshore Tupi field may hold 8 billion barrels of recoverable crude. Among discoveries in the past 30 years, only the 15-billion-barrel Kashagan field in Kazakhstan is larger. …
More discoveries will follow in Brazil’s offshore basins, most of which have yet to be opened to exploration, Zeihan said. Repsol YPF SA, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Devon Energy Corp. are among the producers scouring Brazil’s waters for reserves.
So Exxon et al. are using their record profits to explore for new oil reserves? Who would have imagined it? Among others, this energy consultant:
“In all of the excitement of the bull market a number of economists forgot that that the price mechanism works,” said Peter Beutel, president of energy consultant Cameron Hanover Inc. in New Canaan, Connecticut. “The price mechanism works by discouraging demand and by encouraging exploration and development of new supplies.”
