Absurd American after developing crude oil without energy (9)
I believe the answer is:
ludicrous
'absurd' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'american after developing crude oil without energy' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'us' (**).
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'developing' indicates an anagram.
'without' is a deletion indicator.
'energy' becomes 'e' (physics symbol as in E=mcs).
'crude'+'oil'='crudeoil'
'crudeoil' with 'e' removed is 'crudoil'.
'crudoil' with letters rearranged gives 'ludicro'.
'us' put after 'ludicro' is 'LUDICROUS'.
(Other definitions for ludicrous that I've seen before include "Absurd, ridiculous" , "Nonsensical" , "Utterly laughable" , "Farcical" , "Silly and laughable" .)