CNBC's Insana: US Must Shield Fracking Industry 'At All Costs'

Saudi Arabia and the rest of OPEC "may have just launched an oil war" in refraining from cutting production, thus pushing oil prices down, harming U.S. producers, says CNBC commentator Ron Insana.

"This renewed threat from OPEC, and more specifically Saudi Arabia, demands the energy policy equivalent of a military response," he writes on CNBC.com.

So what's the appropriate response?

"The fracking revolution must be protected at all costs, even if it means subsidizing the industry with tax credits that allow the drilling to go on at below-market prices," Insana says.

January U.S. crude futures hit a five-year low of $63.72 Monday morning, but rallied back to end up more than 4 percent at $69 a barrel on the Nymex.

"While the cost of fracking oil and gas can vary from $50 a barrel to $80 a barrel, the Saudis are intent on looking for the prices that will force U.S. energy production to collapse," Insana writes. 

"While we wait for alternative forms of energy, from wind to solar, to Lockheed Martin's plans for distributed cold fusion power plants across the nation, the battle must be joined now."

Meanwhile, Steve Forbes, chairman of Forbes Media, is none too impressed with the oil cartel.

"OPEC’s impact on prices is grossly exaggerated," he writes on Forbes.com. "Speculators believed OPEC would magically pull a rabbit out of the hat [at its meeting last week]. But OPEC doesn’t even have a hat, much less a rabbit."

The cartel barely accounts for more than one-third of global oil output, Forbes explains. Oil production has exploded to at least a 31-year high in the U.S.

"Wise observers will ignore the [OPEC] charade and instead focus on the dollar price of gold," he says.

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• OPEC Rocked by US Fracking, Can't Cut Production