I wonder what effect such a production pause had on eventual final recovery, since rate of production does seem to play a role in the eventual total able to be produced.

In which case, Rumania just might serve as an example to contrast long term production, at least in terms of 'rest periods' compared to what seem to be fairly modern, global practices of massive short term exploitation. In terms of offshore, this might make sense in a number of ways (for example, a shorter intensive production period also reduces the chance of a major  incident involving oil at sea), but in terms of onshore, it might just be more proof that greed and short term thinking dominate - though was it here, or was it a Simmons presentation that talked about some Texas family which decided to produce oil from their land for the long term?

Of course, I doubt this would be practical (how do you control for technology? geologic particulars?), but it is something to think about.

And keeping with the tears of Allah theme, Rumania is currently one of the absolute poorest parts of Europe, and has been that way (more or less) since oil production began.