Global energy markets are in a period of dramatic transition, largely because of rapid growth in oil and gas production from shale in the United States, and augmented by demand growth, particularly in Asia.

This has challenged the long accepted global supply-demand paradigm and altered patterns of energy trade. In fact, the past 15 years have turned the energy world upside down and left many scrambling to figure out what could possibly come next.

In the United States, oil production growth since 2009 has been so dramatic that the prospect of exporting crude oil has entered into mainstream policy discourse. This is particularly shocking when one considers that just a decade ago, U.S. dependence on foreign oil was of such concern in Washington that it triggered policy measures to raise domestic biofuels production in the name of energy security.

At the same time, China rapidly became one of the world’s largest importers of oil and until recently was expected by