The past year’s drop in crude oil prices will be fundamentally different from previous downturns. What started in June 2014 with a growing imbalance between soft demand in Asia and robust North American shale-oil production seemed typical: Brent crude prices started to fall from $105 per barrel, the market went in contango in October, and expectations were high in anticipation of the late-November OPEC meeting as oil was hitting $75 per barrel. The expectation was that things would revert quickly with a reduction of production quotas. The story went off script when OPEC announced it would not act, sending oil prices crashing below $50 per barrel. Subsequent announcements by influential members of the cartel confirmed that pricing for crude oil would be based on free-market economics. That marked a fundamental shift from over 100 years of price-setting from the Seven Sisters and OPEC, which had governed periods of stability […]