We’ve enjoyed low gasoline and heating oil prices for a few years now, since worldwide crude oil prices plummeted from over $100/bbl in early 2014 to less than half that today. Actually, the current pricing of $45-55/bbl represents a “comeback” of sorts, since crude had dipped as low as $26/bbl during the past year. The benefits of low oil and gas prices are obvious and unmistakable to everyone. The two obvious questions are 1) How did we get here and 2) how long will it last? In 2014, three main factors came into play: The sluggish world economy (especially in China) in 2014 put a drag on world oil demand. U.S. oil production ramped way up at the same time, due to new U.S. shale field output (new exploration and drilling technology enabled U.S. to finally act upon the “Drill, baby, drill!” sentiment espoused by many). With supply and demand dramatically out of balance, crude oil pricing fell, from over $100/barrel to under $50. So...(Read Full Article)