A year ago today, few would have predicted a collapse in oil prices would be the biggest energy story of 2014. Pinpointing next year’s equivalent is just as unlikely. Still, we can at least consider what to watch worldwide in one of the most dynamic, unpredictable, and misunderstood industries. Whatever happens in 2015, these five trends will shape the year ahead in global energy. Oil change The oil crash fallout will continue worldwide throughout at least the first half of 2015. US shale production growth will slow, perhaps even pause. OPEC will feel mounting existential threats, and may eventually have to cut production. Strapped for cash, more vulnerable petro states like Nigeria and Venezuela will curtail inefficient, regressive fuel subsidies. The effect on price could go either way. “On one hand, it could bring down demand,” says Brenda Shaffer, a professor at Georgetown University ’s Center for Eurasian, Russian […]