U.S. lawmakers may now be only months away from lifting a four-decade-old ban on most oil exports, relieving a trade constraint that as recently as a year ago seemed at risk of choking off a domestic drilling boom. At the same time, the outlook for oil prices in 2016 and beyond suggest it may be years before traders care. U.S. benchmark crude oil futures for March have strengthened swiftly this week to their firmest versus global benchmark Brent since the early days of the U.S. shale oil boom, all but eliminating the price gap that would have made exports profitable. The momentum for change in Washington is at odds with the shifting outlook for global oil markets. A key House of Representatives committee on Thursday easily passed a bill to repeal the ban, setting up […]