Oil bulls can say farewell to another quiet Atlantic hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico, which ends Monday without a storm-induced price rise to lift crude from its once-in-a-generation slump. Barely an oil worker was evacuated from the Gulf of Mexico and the biggest storm this year — the strongest hurricane ever in the Western Hemisphere, actually — tore through the Pacific. The subdued June-November season overlapped with a four-month stretch of oil prices averaging less than $50 a barrel, the longest run since the global financial crisis. As well, the epicenter of U.S. production has moved onshore to shale fields spanning North Dakota and Texas. “Once upon a time we would have been watching very closely to what’s happening in the Gulf of Mexico,” David Lennox, an analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney, said by phone. “We’ve seen a few disasters from hurricanes, but the shale phenomenon […]