Industry must hold its nerve

The sector has yet to fully find its feet following the collapse of oil’s latest bull run.

The investment climate is uncertain, the markets have yet to regain equilibrium, investors and the public demand more and believe less that they once did. It is arguable that, leaving aside the dip in 2008 as the global financial crisis hit, the decade-long price surge oil enjoyed was, essentially, an anomaly. While there were economic and geopolitical factors fuelling Brent’s rise, speculation and trading-floor exuberance surely added a hefty premium, keeping prices well above $100 a barrel (/b) for far longer than realistically sustainable. So much so that now, as the markets face a surplus, it is obvious that the higher prices oil traded at between 2011 and 2014 did not - could not - accu