Then & Now: Predicting markets—how forecasting in oil and gas has transformed over 50 years
This Then & Now podcast episode delves into the dynamic nature of oil supply and demand, illustrating how past shocks have reshaped assumptions and what it means for understanding current and future market trends.
The 1973 Oil Embargo broke forecasting models that weren't built to absorb it. The shale revolution rewrote supply elasticity assumptions entirely. And as of April 2026, the US exported more crude oil than it imported for the first time since World War II.
In this Then & Now episode of the Oil & Gas Journal ReEnterprised podcast, Statistics Editor Laura Bell-Hammer connects those data points into a 50-year story about how oil and gas forecasting has been continuously rebuilt by the forces it failed to anticipate—and what that means for reading the market today.
Laura Bell-Hammer is the Statistics Editor for Oil & Gas Journal, where she has led the publication’s global data coverage and analytical reporting for more than three decades. She previously served as OGJ’s Survey Editor and had contributed to Oil & Gas Financial Journal before publication ceased in 2017. Before joining OGJ, she developed her industry foundation at Vintage Petroleum in Tulsa. Laura is a graduate of Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.
