Have we reached the beginning of the end for the biggest oil crash in a generation? Maybe, says one prominent energy research firm. The global crude glut that’s been weighing down prices for 20 months actually shrank by 12 million barrels in January, according to London-based Energy Aspects Ltd. Pipeline outages took output offline in Nigeria and Iraq, while U.S. oil production fell on a year-by-year basis for the first time since 2011 in December. The supply slowdown is setting up a reverse of 2014 when the crash began, said Amrita Sen, Energy Aspects’ chief oil analyst. That year started with such low inventory levels that the supply growth caught people off-guard, resulting in the start of a 70 percent crash in prices. This year began with global inventories near record highs, so the slow-down in supply may be similarly catching people off guard, Sen said. “The market is […]