Platts Dated Brent averaged $79/b over the last decade. The financial crisis, an unforeseen surge in US shale production and the combustible Middle East defined the period for oil markets. The next 10 years could be even more volatile for the world’s most important fossil fuel. Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience. Register Now Despite the dramas of the last decade, prices are set to close out 2019 well below the 10-year average. In 2010, the outlook for demand looked just as uncertain as it does today in the wake of what became known as the Great Recession when global GDP fell by 5.1% and oil consumption dropped by 1.6% in 2009. Low oil prices helped trigger the Arab Spring uprisings, which started as bread riots in Tunisia before China’s economic stimulus helped catapult the value above $120/b. Then as now the oil […]