Oil and gas won't be hard to find in North America this year, but to many market analysts, optimism will be. They, and those in the fossil-fuel business, had hoped for a hastier path to the higher prices that give the industry a healthy return on investment. Instead, early forecasts for 2013 suggest that gas will struggle above the $3 per thousand cubic feet mark, while the U.S. oil benchmark will continue to lag the global price.