how high will oil prices go?
116488
Oil prices will never stop going up because we are running out of it. It goes up by about 2.6% each year.
221912
I would assume they could set the price for oil that they produce at a higher OPEC level, since they would not have to deal with an open market that would drive the price down. But the disadvatage would be that they might not be able to sell as much oil, due to OPEC market restrictions...
1029305
It depends on who you ask.  In the United States it depends on whether you are a Republican or a democrat,  a neo-conservative or a liberal.  Both parties are irrelevant as this is a scientific question. \nIf you listen to UK based Colin Campbell, oil will peak around 2016.  Keep in mind that you must consider middle east oil producers, and countries outside of the middle east, which are expected to peak a lot sooner.  However, the US Geological Survey paints an extremely Rosy picture, with oil production most likely to peak around 2040.  I would say it has a built in optimism since it doesn't factor in geopolitical events.  It also depends on the amount of conservation and alternative energy sources being developed and utilized by the world.  This will also effect production.  You can find this data in the June 2004 issue of the National Geographic Magazine.  US president George Bush plans to stay in iraq until 2016.  Coincidence?
126597
A very good indicator is the oil futures market. Have a look at Brent crude oil futures for 1 year or six months.\n\nThat should show how people are positioning themselves towards oil shortfalls etc
643735
We have already - It's just a matter of the 'powers that be' letting it on to the market. That won't happen until crude oil is almost completely depleted and they can make top dollar on the substitutes (or take your house, first child etc...).
428862
NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote before the start of the war that you will be able to judge its success if the price of a barrel of oil is $6 or $60. When it topped $70, we got our answer.
446687
It is already here.  But we don't want to change and continue to use gasoline like when it was cheaper.  It will start affecting how we travel and live when the price continue to increase.  We continue to buy these oil from Iran (not our friend) and support their government through our need for oil.
684021
If the oil proce goes up then the gold also will go up
486093
What are you talking about?\n\nGas prices are high because the world (specificly the USA) haven't been researching or building an alternative fuel source infrastructure. Our politicians, both Rep & Dems are bought and paid for by the oil companies, the wealthiest lobby there is.\n\nWhat has that got to do with partisan politics? Have you been asleep?
502628
Not that I am for this--But dear it wouldn't matter and why you ask---well here is an article--this is starting to open up a new can of worms--please understand--Anyone in the world could have all the oil in the world..and it really wouldn't matter at this point...\n\n$3-a-gallon gas: Blame Washington, not Big Oil\nWhat's driving up gas prices? It's not just higher crude costs; it's new regulations.\nNelson D. Schwartz\nMay 3, 2006: 2:20 PM EDT\n\n\n(FORTUNE Magazine) - With gas prices roaring past $3 a gallon and consumer fury rising even faster, Congress and the White House are engaged in a Kabuki-like ritual: pointing fingers at each other over who's to blame, while furiously attacking Big Oil for reaping gargantuan profits - as drivers get hosed at the pump.\n\nIf the politicians really want to figure out who's responsible for the latest round of price increases, though, they'd be better off looking in the mirror. That's because the rise isn't only due to higher crude costs. It's also fallout from some little-noticed provisions in the energy bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush last summer.\n\nBuried in the 551-page energy bill - which was supposed to ease energy shortages, not worsen them - were new regulations governing what additives go into gasoline and how it's refined. Corn-based ethanol is replacing the petroleum-derived additive MTBE, but Congress timed this logistically tricky switchover to occur just as demand for gasoline peaked ahead of the summer driving season - right about now.\n\nThe end result is an extra strain on the refining and distribution system when it can least afford it.\n\n"It's too late now, but Congress has consistently failed to sequence regulatory requirements in a responsible fashion," says Bob Slaughter, president of the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association.\n\nAdds Larry Goldstein of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation: "The gasoline crisis is made in the U.S.A., not in Iran or Venezuela or Nigeria. At least half the increase in gasoline prices is due to unintended consequences of the energy bill, but no one in Washington wants to admit that."\n\nIndeed, while crude prices have risen 21% since the end of 2005, gasoline is up 37% - a sign of just how stretched the system is. Congress's mistake, says Goldstein, was setting the new law to go into effect 270 days after it was signed - May 5 - rather than waiting until fall, when gas demand is typically on the downswing.\n\nNow the big question is, How high can gas go? Well, perhaps the only good thing that can be said about paying three bucks per gallon is that it seems to be slowing consumption - which should, in turn, reduce prices. Over a four-week period in April, says oil analyst Jamal Qureshi of consulting firm PFC Energy, U.S. gasoline demand dropped by half a percent, to just over nine million barrels a day. That may not sound like much, but it's a reversal from the 1.7% average annual increase in gas consumption the U.S. has experienced over the past decade. If $3 is indeed the tipping point at which consumers change their behavior and alter their driving habits, it's the one silver lining in an otherwise very dark cloud for drivers.\n\nThe wildcard in this scenario, of course, is the increasing risk of a military confrontation with Iran. If that happens, says Qureshi, "all bets are off." Given that crude oil accounts for 55% of the cost of each gallon of gas (refining accounts for 22%, taxes for 19%, and distribution and marketing for 4%), an upward spike in crude oil would push gas up even if the bottlenecks caused by the energy bill ease this summer.\n\nThat's why Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute, says the answer in the short term is conservation. Washington is indeed being turned upside down when it's left to Cavaney, Big Oil's chief lobbyist, to talk conservat
1028689
Yep. Correct.  \nBP announced today that they expect the Oil price to fall.\nThey didn't give a specific reason for this sudden announcement.\n& who do you ask?\nDo what I do & make up my own mind.\nWith the Insurgents a lil more fazed after head-honcho dead.\nThey'll be able to pump at full steam ahead instead of half-cocked of late.\n\n& once the OIL's all gone, I suppose it's too late to start debating re. the legality of the Iraq invasion again!
383823
I'm not sure, but i bet it is a lot for far less than what they are charging us for 1 barrel of oil.
480251
Your wage will never reflect the increase, or future increases of the cost of fuel (or any of the other worldly commodities that oil creates).\n\nI have been following the subject of "Peak oil" for about 4 years now and the worlds' dependance on oil. All aspects of our economies (globally speaking) is completely dependant on the stuff and the world is about to learn that, not only can the world not produce it any faster than we presently are, the production rates of global oil producers is about to start its' irreversable permanent decline.\n\nSupply will always go down (aproximately 2-3 percent a year) and demand will continue to go up.  It is predicted that by 2015 that global oil production will decrease 20% and demand will go up 80%.  Think you pay alot for gas now?\nTry $5-$10 a gallon in the NEAR future.\n\nGoogle "peak oil" and spend the next few weeks of your life reading about how we are all pretty screwed.  \n\nLike others have mentioned though, it won't just be gas that goes up.  \n\nEvery piece of plastic produced is made of a by-product of oil.  Every nitrogen based fertalizer that farmers use is a by-product of oil.  In fact you can't find one product for sale in any mall across North America that doesn't owe its' existance, either directly or indirectly, to oil.  \n\nIt is said that if we were to convert the energy that we all benifit from from oil, into human muscle power, we would have approximately 300 slaves working for us night and day, without a break, and having never to feed them.\n\nWell, the slaves are about become unionized and we're all going to have to pay a premium rate for their wages, while our own wages will probably decrease with a recession.\n\nGoogle "peak oil"!!!!\n\nBy the way, hydrogen fuel isn't going to solve this problem.  It doesn't produce fertalizers or plastics.\n\nlisten to this file http://www.globalpublicmedia.com/lectures/156
328579
My old prediction was that their will be little change in consumption until fuel reaches $7/gallon. After watching the news last week, I'm beginning to think it may be closer to $5/gallon.\n\n$12/gallon would be too high, as the transportation charges would cause a serious blow to the cost of consumer goods and trigger inflation big time.
278954
"In today's complex global markets, the price of crude oil is set by movements on the three major international petroleum exchanges, all of which have their own Web sites featuring information about oil prices. They are the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX, http://www.nymex.com), the International Petroleum Exchange in London (IPE, http://www.ipe.uk.com) and the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX, http://www.simex.com.sg)."\n\n\n\nBasically the availability of oil as well as the cost of finding more are the main reasons for the pricing of crude oil. But there are a lot more factors that come into play when you start talking about gas prices which are connected directly to the cost of oil.\n\n\n\n"Global economic expansion is driving what the International Energy Agency says is the biggest increase in oil demand for 24 years.\n\nOil companies have tried to become more efficient in recent years and operate with lower stocks of crude oil. This means there is less of a cushion in the market against supply interruptions.\n\nThe combination of low stocks and Opec action to keep them low leaves the market exposed to the prospect of sudden price rises if supplies are threatened.\n\nThe world's major oil consumers remain dependent on the Middle East for their oil. Recent violence in Iraq and Saudi Arabia has again raised fears about an interruption to supplies.\n\nAnalysts also view political tension in non-Middle East states Nigeria and Venezuela as having the potential to disrupt exports and drive up world prices.\n\nLow US gasoline stocks and pressure on US refiners to increase production of new gasoline blends have also helped drive world crude oil prices."\n\n\nHope this is what you were looking for, please send me an email and I will elaborate more.
1056073
It is a real concern, but whenever someone makes a prediction about when a country of the world will reach peak oil output, they do so with what then is considered a researve.  As the cost of a barrel of oil increases, sources for oil that were once not considered a researve then become on because at that cost it is economically viable to recover it.  With the recent spike in oil prices, North America can now clasify the tar sands in Canada and the oil shales in Colorado oil researves, and that being the case, it is estimated that in the US alone, we now have more economically recoverable oil then Saudi Arabia, the worlds largest exporter.  As the price continues to increase, other marginal sources will become economically viable.  Sooner or later, we will reach a point where there simply isn't enough oil available for any price, but that is still a ways off yet.  I believe that before we reach that point, oil will be more expensive then alternate fuel sources.  Through simple economics, I believe that people will begin using these alternate fuels simply because they are less expensive.  I believe that the high cost of oil will spawn invention and inovation into the energy sector, and I believe that has already begun.  We are working on increasing production of biodiesels and ethenol, and there is increased research into fuel cells and electric autos.  I think the future lies in hydrogen burning technology personally.  We already have engines that burn Hydrogen, but we're still working on the fuel tank dilema.  So, for a long answer, I believe that there is and will be time. I'm looking foward to being put out of buisiness.
606266
Good question.  If it does, it will be for the oil, same as with Iraq.  Or at least, that is what it seems to most people in the world.