The latest survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas has revealed lingering pessimism in oil markets, with executives seeing lower activity and higher costs amid weak oil prices, but AI is offering hope for improved efficiency. Activity in the oil and gas sector fell in the final quarter of the year with the business activity index remaining negative at -6.2, unchanged from the third quarter.The company outlook index improved slightly to -15.2 from -17.6 in the third quarter, suggesting continuing pessimism among firms. Oil and gas production…