By Joseph G. Paul, Akhil Kapoor, Jeremy Taylor
What's the long-term outlook for oil in a world shifting to renewable energy? Oil majors publicly say supply-and-demand dynamics will support the market. But their investment choices suggest that they're preparing for a much weaker oil price in the distant future.
Forecasting long-term oil trends is very complicated work. Demand is affected by variables, including the economic growth of emerging markets and the global push to improve energy efficiency. The cost of new supply is driven by industry cost, investing trends and access to low-cost resources. It's