Where do you think oil prices will go?

Maybe we should kick off a "The Price is Right" style game show. We'll cram the audience with analysts, speculators and psychics and see who makes the closest guess on oil prices.

If the latest slew of oil news is any indication, there will be guesses from $40 a barrel up to $200 or more. Some say bubble. Others say "market fundamentals."

Reuters reported this latest prediction of $150 to $170 a barrel. Billionaire George Soros predicted that prices are a bubble that will soon burst. Goldman Sachs offered a prediction of $150 to $200. Analysts around Florida have widely different views.

With prices above $130 a barrel, it makes the days of $100 oil seem like a fond memory.

What do you think? Let's start the bidding...

-Asjylyn Loder, Times Staff Writer

Comments

[Chris]

Big Oil will find no serenity
in its disgrace.
Their polished shoes
will not hide their dirty hands.

Through all the empty fields
they've traipsed.
They will find only regret,
from where they stand.

We will not lose our home to the rising cost of gasoline. Nor will we ever need to pay a light bill again. For the going rate of twelve grand, our entire home, and car will run on electricity. Solar power is up and coming, and warranted for fifty years. It will not take a decade to recoupe the cost, it will pay for itself twice in only a year. With all the money we will have saved becoming oil free!

[Tino]

I call shenanigans.

On a related note, I would love to see the mainstream media do a story on how the environmental movement is directly causing gas prices to rise.

Today's Wall Street Journal has a story on how refineries that are trying to expand by refining heavier (i.e. cheaper) types of oil have been blocked in Roxana (IL), Richmond (CA) and Whiting (IN).

As usual, the eco-terrorist group NRDC has compared more refining capacity to a scene from the Book of Revelations...

When you are paying $4+ a gallon, thank an environmentalist.

[Chris]

That is simply because we do not need oil. An internal combustion engine(gas/diesel) wastes nearly 90% of its power before it even drives the wheels. Where as electric uses 90%. Rather than complaining, a few people have actually spent their time developing these technologies for instance, achieving 250mpg with Toyota's Prius. The arguement is no longer about how to make gasoline more affordable, but how quickly we adapt to the alternatives.

[Tino]

Unfortunately, those same environmentalists are blocking power generation and transmission to get electricity to potential electric cars.

Yep, blocking new technologies is doing great things for our standard of living. That's been the mantra for years:

1. Protest and hold up new development in the courts for years
2. Prices continue to rise for oil and power
3. Complain that prices keep going up, blame the same companies that you are suing in 1.

[Ronnie]

Chris, where are you getting this from. Show me the data about solar energy for your home that cost $13k and is warranted for 50 years. I have done some research and found the cost much greater. All these systems require batteries and I have never seen a battery warrantied for 50 years.

As for the Prius getting 250mpg, Toyota is advertising 48mpg. When you add the premium you pay for a hybrid it takes from 7 to 12 years to recoup your money in gas savings. So if you want to feel good and pay more, buy a hybrid. If you want to save money, buy a small gas powered engine. That information is out there for everyone to see.

[Ronnie]

Oh I forgot to mention, Tino has hit the nail square on the head. More and more people see it and I think come election time, the polls will show it too.

[Kimberly]

First, I understand the need to build power plants if we want electricity. With the population we have, we'd burn up all the forests if we all lived in little cabins heated by a log fire. I grew up in a little house heated by wood stove. In winter, the only way to warm up was to be within four feet of the stove.

However, isn't some environmentalism good? How is my bicycle raising gas prices?