Oil price over $147 for the first time-now above $80

[HURAKAN]

Jealous? why? They have more resources than most, if not all, countries in the west. They just need time to have a strong economy and become a super power. That's the future that we will have to face.

Gas prices will continue to go up and there is no end in sight. US economy is already in recession, the war in Iraq seems to have no end, problems continue with Iran, Pakistan very unstable at the moment, USD continues to plummet, and more.

We have to face reality and find an alternative to oil ASAP.

[gtalum]

US economy is already in recession...

No, it's not. Recession is a very specific term, and the economy hasn't even come close to recession yet. The growth has slowed, however.

[JonathanBelles]

US economy is already in recession...

No, it's not. Recession is a very specific term, and the economy hasn't even come close to recession yet. The growth has slowed, however.

Yep, the economy is slowing, but the economy is still growing. Therefore we are not in a recession. It will be at least 6-8 months before a recession has technically started, and I dont expect it.

[Dionne]

Defining recession.....supposedly a period of economic decline where production, employment and earnings fall below "normal levels"....

Now consider those heavily invested in real estate that can remain liquid.....they stand to make a fortune during a recession. While your average worker remains at the same level with increasing costs and declining disposable income.

It all depends how sharp we keep our pencils and how we tighten our belts.

Not to mention natural disasters disrupting the availability of crude oil and refining.

I am a firm believer that we need to reduce our carbon footprint worldwide.

[Nimbus]

50 years from now the history books may say 2007 was the turning point, the world took the bullet and oil prices sent the global economy into recession. Rising like a phoenix from the ashes of financial ruin, green industries spontaniously sprang up and reinvigorated the world economies. The new world heroes save planet Earth for future generations...

On second thought why doesnt you know who just dump a couple million barrels of our strategic petroleum reserve oil on the market at $50 a barrel? After prices collapse they can buy it back at $40 a barrel. We can do the Phoenix thing later if the other you know who's get in office.

[Cryomaniac]

50 years from now the history books may say 2007 was the turning point, the world took the bullet and oil prices sent the global economy into recession. Rising like a phoenix from the ashes of financial ruin, green industries spontaniously sprang up and reinvigorated the world economies. The new world heroes save planet Earth for future generations...

Lets hope so. I'd actually rather that happen than the other thing you said.

[Nimbus]

The Problem is that without sustained high oil prices investing in technology like deep off shore drilling and oil from shale projects or solar energy can end up making the investers lose big time. I remember that happening back in the 80's, people spent money on expensive green solutions like electric cars and solar panels that ended up worthless in just a few years after the oil prices collapsed.
It really hurts when trying to do the right thing leaves you broke.

This time around industries are being more cautious they realize there are over a billion barrels of oil in the strategic petroleum reserves that could be used to break the oil crunch. What do you do if you are making decisions for GM for example? In the past waiting for oil prices to drop has been more profitable than closing the factories that are making big cars and SUVs. Sure the car manufacturers are making some small ful efficient hybrids but up till now they have been expensive and are considered too gutless for most US drivers.

We know they are going to dump some oil reserve we just don't know when. Maybe greed is a motive, dumping oil at $110 a barrel when the market is at $120 a barrel is more profitable than $90 at $100?

[Cryomaniac]

We know they are going to dump some oil reserve we just don't know when. Maybe greed is a motive, dumping oil at $110 a barrel when the market is at $120 a barrel is more profitable than $90 at $100?

The only problem with them doing that is that it wouldn't please OPEC, who could just cut their supplies and keep the price up anyway.

[Nimbus]

Historically OPEC has only been able to make small adjustments to supply.

http://www.wtrg.com/prices.htm

Major events that restricted oil production such as oil embargo were the result of war in the middle east.
Unfortunately demand for oil has historically only been reduced as a result of economic recession.
The strategic petroleum reserve system was started in the US after the 1973 oil embargo as a safety measure in times of supply cuts.
The current high oil prices are officially stated as being caused by a lack of spare capacity in oil production.

I think the oil speculators have driven the price of oil artificially high. Dumping some of the strategic petroleum reserve on the world market would cause a short term price crash. OPEC can't do much of anything quickly. Could be that the us officials are waiting for the higher oil prices to cause a recession before taking action. The dow jones index is still above 13,000 and high oil prices can take months before their effects show up in the economic data.

The strategic petroleum reserve system is not perceived by most as a preemptive tool. Could be very effective against speculator driven short term price spikes in oil.

[gtalum]

OPEC doesn't control the oil supply as much as they'd like us to believe. The fact is, nobody is finding enough oil to keep up with the world's increasing demand. With a few exceptions, IMHO, prices will continue to escalating indefinitely.

[MGC]

The current rise in oil prices will be temproary. I expect that by January the price of gas will start falling. The current rise is being caused by speculators IMO. Prices will come down after the holiday driving season......MGC

[Nimbus]

Oil was down more than a dollar a barrel this morning and the monthly oil futures options expiry date is Tuesday.

[gtalum]

The current rise in oil prices will be temproary. I expect that by January the price of gas will start falling. The current rise is being caused by speculators IMO. Prices will come down after the holiday driving season......MGC

It will come down some from this peak, but I don't think it will settle as "low" as it was 3 months ago. The speculators are one big part of the problem, but there's no denying the falling value of the dollar.

[cycloneye]

Also apart from the speculators,the media has wanted to see $100 a barrel of oil to fill their headlines with pesimism stories.But their wish has vanished at least for this week and maybe more.I remember last week when it was at $97 CNN sent a reporter to the floor of the NYSE saying that it was a matter of a couple of days when we will see $100 a barrel.They went to him many times that day with live reports saying the same thing but again his wish did not come thru.

[TexasStooge]

So far, the cheapest gas here is $2.91/gallon for unleaded fuel.

[HURAKAN]

So far, the cheapest gas here is $2.91/gallon for unleaded fuel.

That's cheap, here it's $3.12.

[vbhoutex]

What I have been reading is that we are at our peak for oil prices for the time being and that they should erode downward some, but not a lot. No one is expecing $100+ oil soon that I have seen.

[HollynLA]

Funny how we get these gloom and doom threads everytime gas prices rise, but yet they always seem to eventually fall back down. No, I never expect them to go back to what they were 3 years ago, but neither will the price of anything else. I really don't worry about it much, they will continue to fluctuate each year at certain times.

[Squarethecircle]

If anyone cares, the economy is pretty unstable right now anyway, no need discussing whether not it's collapsing yet (though it hasn't).
Back up to three dollars here.

[HURAKAN]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Oil_ ... m_Term.png


Oil consumption per capita (darker colors represent more consumption).


Oil imports by country

Population: United States: 300 million (about 4.6%)

The third largest country by population consumes the greatest amount of oil, that is a problem.