Timing is everything when it comes to investing in commodities. ©AP It seems difficult to believe now but in 2014 oil was considered one of the safest bets around. The reasoning among large financial investors was straightforward. Regulation and technology might well crimp demand in the industrialised west but as more of the developing world’s poor moved into the middle-class oil demand and prices would remain strong. Fast forward to 2016, and many analysts, including those in strategic planning departments of large oil companies, are starting to warm to the idea of peak oil demand globally, not just in the OECD. In part, the exercise has been driven by shareholders and activists who say the companies are ignoring the risks to their business from a global climate accord. A number of organisations, notably the International Energy Agency, but also including oil companies such as Statoil , Shell , BP […]