Exxon Mobil Corp. expects energy demand to climb 25 percent by 2040 as the global population increases.

Fracking through the "shale gas revolution" created an economic boost during a time the economy needed all the help it could get, according to a working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Fracking boosted the economy by $48bn per year between 2007-13, according to the study's authors: Catherine Hausman and Ryan Kellogg of the University of Michigan.

Despite many underlying tensions, the Middle East has maintained a positive economic outlook, according to Frost & Sullivan's "International Supply Chain Excellence Programme-Gulf Edition 2014." This is evident from the region's ability to maintain a positive growth rate when most economies globally have struggled to be above the red line.