Oil futures closed the year at more-than five-year lows, as plentiful supplies and tepid demand continued to send prices plunging. Brent crude oil and gasoline futures both posted 48% losses in 2014, making them the worst performers among the 22 commodity markets tracked by the Bloomberg Commodity Index. U.S. oil futures dropped 46% in the year. Oil, gasoline and diesel markets all posted their largest annual losses since the global recession in 2008. Wednesday’s price drop marked a “poetic end to…what ended up being a difficult year for the oil and gas industry,” said Adam Wise, managing director at John Hancock Financial Services, who helps oversee about $7 billion in energy-related investments. Weak Chinese economic data weighed on the market Wednesday, along with U.S. inventory data showing that supplies in a key storage hub rose last week. Brent crude futures settled down 57 cents, or 1%, at […]