After a decade of losses for US shale oil, 2020 may be a final reckoning

Founded in 1989, Chesapeake binged on debt to acquire drilling rights to 15 million acres, at one time making it the second-largest gas producer in the US. Since 2010, the US shale industry has written down at least $450 billion in investments and suffered 190 bankruptcies, reports the consulting firm Deloitte. Shale oil, likely responsible for an outsized climate impact over the last decade, could see its heyday come to an end in the US before it ever made a profit.