While the majority of contributors on this board went with the flow and said that yes, oil will hit 200, it made it clearer than ever to me just how irrational we can become. We ignore certain posibilities that can determine how a price can be affected, in this case a sharp reduction in consumption by the important US citizen, not to mention drivers the world over. Also, governments shifting gears and speeding up the urgency for alternatives. All this, and much more, will have made more than one speculator (and yes, there is that undeniable factor) to re-think their strategy. Come on guys, everytime a dark cloud appeared near an oil platform there were shouts of “batton down those hatches”. Anyone would think that Iran had never tested missiles before (hundreds of times) but suddenly it is being construed as impending war. In short, any ol’ excuse. The saudis have said that they are meeting demands – good justification not too increase production. Later, it appears that Mr. Soros has started shorting the stuff – has he seen the pin get ever closer to the bubble?

Come on, Todd, how can you talk about financial crises, downturn in global consumption and armageddon around the corner and then couple it with rising oil prices. Surely it is the above mentioned that will bring oil down.

A downturn in US consumption will not be enough to offset the rise in consumption of developing nations like China, India, Indonesia and Brazil. Even if every American turned in there SUV for a hybrid, it would not be enough to compensate for all those in east Asia who will be trading in there mopeds for nano cars. Additional lets not forget the additional energy that will be needed for these nations rapid economic growth. I would agree that a good portion of the price of oil is speculation and a weak dollar, but a majority of the oil price can be substantiated. The current drop is oil is a market correction for America’s ailing economy and the realization of commodity traders that speculation has inflated the price. The drop of oil prices is temporary and wont last.

oil falling is a healthy conrrection of uptrend, the first target is somewhere 122.50 if it breaks that than next is 116.85, it offcourse speculations , but if you guys need right directions on oil pls do’t hesittae to contact me , thank you

The more severe world recession looks, the greater the restraining influence on oil prices.
This couples with rebuffs to the Bush/Cheney plans to use Iraq as a base to attack Iran to lead to further weakening in oil prices.
None of this affects the fundamental restrictions on supply of oil, which will progressively worsen up to 2012 and catastrophically thereafter.
From the current 87 million barrels a day available today, exporters should have around 35 million barrels/day available in 2018.
Natural gas supplies also can’t be expanded indefinitely.
So short term ripples will not affect the overall increasing trend in oil prices.

Well, it looks to me even more blunt then it could be, in real. First time when oil hit $100, a surge, geopolitical instabity was blammed. Bhuthos’ assasination was missleadingly connected to oil hook. Oil demand is expected to increase at 1.2 percent per year, underpinned by transportation demand. So we should keep ourself ready for another peak.

Todd, Just because barrels are shown in Dollars ($) doesn’t necessarily means USA is the only key player in this rapid fluctuation. And since when drivers started to decide worlds’ economy faith ? There could be an impact– but not so substential.

“Oil prices tumbled more than $3 a barrel in the previous session as a hurricane looked likely to spare key oil installations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico” Another joke… Apparently the hurricane “LOOKED LIKELY” to spare, infact, hasn’t spared actually. Uncertainity is the main driving force that pushes the market beyond level.

I believe, Oil, gas, and coal will remain indispensable to meeting demand for reliable, affordable energy for the foreseeable future.

Hahaha, willingness to pay higher pump prices. As you mentioned above, the trading price of oil commodities has dropped $21 per barrel, or $0.50/gallon for a 42 gallon barrel, but last I checked, the pump price is exactly the same, give or take a couple pennies, and I highly doubt it’s going much lower. Investor prices fluctuate, sure, but consumer prices only ever go up. Should the price increase again, so will pump prices. It’s just a matter of consumers getting used to it. Once it’s normal, prices will go up again. If consumers have done something to affect the price of gas, it hasn’t been in any way that would help them, at least not in the short term.

It might be that I’m spreaking too soon, or that I’m not acquainted enough with the inner workings of all this, but as an average consumer, that’s what I see.

The only thing that’s happened is that investors now have another chance to buy low and sell high. So yes, to answer your first question, I do think it’s only temporary.

Oil will fall to under $100 for sure in the next few weeks. The people are are not just speaking up but they are taking actions.In Manila, the three oil companies (Shell, Chevron and Petron) are selling 11million liters/day ,but today they’re only selling 7million liter/day. We can only afford so much , and we rather put food on the table.

The future of cars will be different in a few years, and by the time we know it gas will be a thing of the past. While power plants has a lot of alternatives…nuclear, hydrogen, wind, solar, hydro, and yes…maybe coal too. We will evolve, we will adjust and we will learn how to cope for the better.

Edge.A, May be this site would be helpful for you, regarding other energy resources.

http://www.exxonmobil.com/corporate/

Let’s just hold it right there…..I mean the enthusiasm….yes oil prices have gone down considerably from the highs of about ten days ago. I guess we’ve been lucky, but I must say we all know we’re not out of the woods yet. This “oil price” is going to stay volatile, to say the least. It will fall and then recover and then fall again and so forth. The slowing down of the global economy and the effects of a stronger dollar will come through with time, its too early to feel the impact. Until then consumers all over the world can keep their fingers crossed and hope that Geopolitics and Nature are kind to us all. We can also start to change our driving habits…..carpooling is a good idea, as is public transport (if its decent enough). I think crude oil prices will trade within a certain range and will not completely go down, atleast this year.

Political factors were beginning to play a big part in the oil price, imo, and it was imperative to get the price down and to keep it on a downwards path. This will help to put a brake on inflation, since many other prices (food crops, commodities) are already on the way down. Oil was the last domino to topple over.
The Dow is already perking up, Americans will have more disposable income, if the oil price goes further down and stays down. And

However, wind energy is an obvious alternative to oil as far as supplying power to households is concerned, and this was an item on German TV today.
With a record 90′000 new jobs created in this new energy sector,
business is booming for German firms, said an industry representative on German ZDF, with the strongest demand coming from China and the USA.

Two major projects are
1) alpha ventus
in which Germany’s biggest energy company E.ON plus partners are
participating

2) Meerwind
in which the US firm Blackstone is investing.

Googling each of these names will guide to English language sites.

oil prices will be increased to substantial in future. The decrease of oil price to $21 per barrel recently may be because many countries have made a drastic policy to adapt will unexpected increase of oil price. However i believe the drastic policy imposed will be fine tune by the policy maker to avoid the anger many people. Flip flop , the oil price will increase again.

The real question is whether the stratospheric oil prices reached just two weeks ago only induced drivers to consume less gasoline until prices come down, or whether “sticker shock” has hopefully started a lasting momentum for change leading to the progressive introduction of renewable energy supplies to reduce the excessive dependency on oil as far as possible. If consumers once again return to the old habits they had before the oil price forced them to think twice, then yes, the current dip in the price of crude oil will certainly not last.

However, if consumers now believe that having non-oil based means of transport is a wise option due to the high cost of gasoline and the current global warming frenzy, and that related industries are able to offer truly viable alternatives, then there is a real likelihood for oil prices to come down much further over the next 12-24 months. I hope that the latter possibility turns into reality for a healthier long-term economic outlook.

I think oil prices will continue to drop aslong as there is a public outcry and the economy continues to be bad. However geopolitical issues are still driving the market, maybe not so much speculation but the “possibility” of something bad happening such as hurricanes and further tensions with Iran, Nigeria and other Middle east countries. We truly need to spend more time looking for resources on our OWN soil such as fossil fuels, solar and wind power and bring back on line several of the nuclear plants with there renewed safety measures in place to ensure Americans that nuclear power is safe again. But the final key point in bringing down oil and gas prices is simply this….drive less and plan ahead. Hello people! Even a semi educated person can figure that out.

When the Malaysian government removed the oil subsidy recently, petrol kiosk immediately reported a drop of 20% of sales in litres of petrol sold daily.Many other countries including India and China has also recently reduced or removed petrol subsidy and immediately sees a huge drop in consumption.This is a world-wide trend.

Consumers all over the world are saying, “enough is enough”. I think the price will fall to below USD 70/ barrel before this year end, which in my opinion is still too high.The price of oil will hover around USD 40 -50 in a couple of years from now.Those Soros”es” out there.Lick your wound soon if you keep speculating it up.

Oil may slide slighty over the coming months, but it will not slide long or far because THIS Congress does not want it too! The Dems are on a Green kick and high energy prices support all their goals, lower emissions, small cars (even if safety becomes a problem), more dependence on large government to HELP the impoverished, and of course their position of no off-shore drilling (or on shore for that matter) will continue to support the high prices.

Oil and its derivative, gas, will stay abnormally high as long as Congress continues its irrational stance regarding drilling, refineries and nuclear power. That helps to meet all their green goals, while we suffer, and they can say they are protecting the environment, a proposition most Americans have fallen sucker to; that is the price we pay for failing to think.

I agree with Edge A, yes oil will fall (maybe crash) short term, but rise in the long term. There is a finite supply with a seemingly infinite demand. We will just have to find ways to adjust our economy, lifestyle, and investments. Wind power seems like a decent alternative to oil right now, and nuclear looks good too. In fact power shares just released a new ETF that deals with alternative energy (a sign of changing times?).
I think its called PWND, here is a link describing it http://stockparadise.blogspot.com/2008/07/pwnd-powershares-global-nuclear-energy.html

$300 oil is impossible! We just saw what happen when oil pushed the $150 mark. Other industries slashed production and jobs. When you slash jobs, those people no longer commute to work. That is where the demand distruction is comming from.

In the U.S, every $50 increase in the price of oil diverts approx. $365 billion from the general economy (20 million barrels per day) . Thats approximately 2% of the U.S. GDP (20 Trillion). Diverting 2% of the GDP means 2% job loss accross the economy and a 2% distruction in the demand for gasoline.

Dear Mr. Benjamin,

Of course you are right. The economies of the United States, Europe and most of the Western World are sick and getting sicker. Real productivity has moved to the Orient and India. If we can see inflation as a serious problem the central bankers can’t be that much dumber than we are. Their problem is that if they turn off the monetary printing presses they fear that unemployment, which is the real issue in economic slowdowns, will rise sharply. This is clearly politically unacceptable. What it would really do is increase unemployment in China and India as demand for the products they produce falls. Governments fail to understand the implications of service based economies. They forget that there are more people employed flipping burgers than making things like cars and toasters in the Western World.

What we need is real money with real backing and the inherent control this sort of thing would bring. We could still use Friedman monetary economics based on a fractional reserve system, but with the backing of commodities or other things of value behind money. We could then use the fiat money for what it is good for, starting the bar-b-que.

in the UAE, petrol costs $1.70 a gal. The price does not change. The reason is because the government controls the people.

So i believe oil should hit $200 soon to ensure the poor remain poor. If people are poor, they cant protest. They cant do anything. $200 is the only way to control world population.

If the world governments were like the UAE government, and actually governed, then there would be no need to charge such high prices.
The Sheikh’s here know what to do, and even though its muslim, its still better then any other country. I love it here, and i love the $1.70 petrol price.

Economy mechanics or phycological factors can create sudden price drops but we are still living on a planet %100 dependent on oil and oil will become unusable past 1:1 EROI(energy return on investement) which is close as 10 to 20 years ,do not let your guard down , this rollercoaster just climbing the last peak..

I really hope the price of oil will fall down to 100 USD; I think this would happen after the Beijing Games; it better be for the sake of all the western civilization….
Considerable damage has been done already to world economy.
and last but not least I have already made a bet about this.

Keep hope alive!

Will the dollar fall below $1.50/Euro? A weak dollar means Petrol costs more in dollars. Thanks Pres Bush. A weak dollar leaves me weak at the end of the week. Offshore Oil drilling will help furnish more supply but if the price falls I am certain the demand will over compensate for the added drops in the sea. $150 a barral oil? If you ask me, and you didn’t so I’ll have to say; Oil should cost about $1000 per barral. Unfortunately, it will take such drastic prices to shake the world into not thinking and speaking green but living it.

I think , the falling oil-price is rather due to market -psychology , on contrary to soaring oil-price which seems to be caused by real fundamentals .Consider the fact , that the first down-spike of oil -price occured just in the minute when Fed -Chief Bernankie had a speach over-last Tuesday .In the same time Pres Bush had also a briefing concerning with economical situation in US.Isn’t it a psychology?

Most people think of crude oil in terms of energy supply, and more specifically, the powering of cars, trucks, aeroplanes etc.

Oil underpins much more than this, including the entire petro-chemical industry not derived from natural gas, even the bitumen on the highways and runways the above run on. Even world supply of food commodities due to the price and availability of fertilisers derived from natural gas.

Thus, while the real (not USD denominated) crude oil price when smoothed is fundamental to the balance of demand and supply, it is also a bell wether for underlying economic health. As recession encroaches the price should go down in an equilibrium world where supply and demand are established through the price mechanism. However, equilibrium requires a theoretically infinite source of supply. With daily global production capacity in mbsd is set to fall, and the availability of export supplies from oil exporters falling faster due to increasing domestic demand in those countries, the equilibrium is broken, and only permanent structural changes are relevant.

In my opinion the oil price will continue its volatility as the price, and physical supplies, drive the change to whatever world will eventuate.

We are suffering a sea change that is taking us, whether we like it or not, to a brave new world.

I think that the futures increase of interes rates is pushing down the comoditties,plus some funds are taking profits.

I think we can see the oil at 100, but no less than that.

sorry for my english, i´m for Argentina.

regards

What everyone fails to realize is that although the US market is by far the most important. Countries in the third world, where I live(Guatemala) have seen a dramatic drop in gas usage. Why, as a percentage of income, buying gas for the car may be the same as your rent. Yes Guatemala is small, however, add Mexico and all the rest of the developing world where as a percentage of income gas equals rent, the amount of usage world wide is down dramatically. Gas going to $ 200.00 a barrel is nuts.

A good salary here is $ 1,000 a month. If you pay 30% for rent, you can easily spend that(or more) on gas. So, where is the money for food that has gone up 30% because of gas prices. $ 150 nor
$ 200.00 is viable.

isn’t it amazing how swiftly the chinese stopped demanding so much oil, and the nigerian insurgents stopped blowing up pipelines, in about a week and a half two of the primary reasons we were given for the rise in oil prices no longer apply. does anyone dare to explain this? do you think perhaps, we were being bamboozled?

There is no doubt that geo-poltical issues in the Middle East have given oil a push up recently and I suspect some of the falls are related to things being a little more quiet there at the moment. Also President Bush’s move to allow offshore drilling for oil has also helped cool the price. I doubt a few people jumping on their bicycles has had any impact at this stage, although a move by the US into more fuel efficient vehicles over the next 10 years will.

Over the longer term I suspect oil prices will keep on their upward trend albeit at a more gradual rate. A target of $300 in ten years is hardly shocking as it means an annual increase of around 10% based on todays price which seems reasonable.

Greg Atkinson

http://www.shareswatch.com.au/blog/

How many cars still have 1 driver on the road. The price of gas certainly offer’s incentive for more conservation which can help to reduce consumption and put a temporary damper on the escalation of fuel prices. Ultimately we will continue to be in the hands of the oil producing nations for a long while. Govt policy and relatively cheap fuel in the past years has encouraged wasteful practice in the choice of the vechicles we drive. Hopefully we are learning a valuable lesson about are dependence upon imported oil. Solutions will be some time in coming. Conservation along with recession is proving to be a near term factor in moderation of prices. Auto makers are in crisis mode to re-tool the plants but are depending upon technology developed for their european and asian models. No one is even talking about the price of heating your home this winter. Yet another problem in the works.

Thanks Eeman.

I believe the global well-being is in flux due to extreme demand, hence higher prices in every sector. Every1 can speculate why but the true reason is, the world has too many people consuming at an alarming rate.

There must be govt./state mandated safe-gaurds on procreation. Not every1 is able to have children yet the poorest have more children burdening every1.

Humanism is a great endeavor but there should be limits.

I have three comments: First, what drove oil prices down happened when McCain wanted off-shore drilling adopted. Polls supported this plan overwhelmingly; second, speculators fearful of losing out again after the sub-prime mess were in a panic mode by dumping their contracts; third, I support Boone Pickens premise we need not have to rely on Arab or OPEC oil and save our oil dollars by investing it here. However if you have ever seen a windmill they are absolutely ugly – I don’t want one in my backyard, but I’ll support it if they are erected in someone else’s backyard…you need 53 million of them to supply 105 million households in the U.S. We’d become another Holland in the New World.

I hope the oil price goes higher than $300 a barrel. It takes shocks to move the world in a positive direction. Better to have an energy shock than a terrorist shock to shake people and make them think.

Till the time major economies keep the real interest rate negetive the price bubbles will keep on booming and bursting. Oil price bubble will not burst anytime soon as it has to fully blow first. Helping it are economies which subsidise the price of petrol thus encouraging the consumption. What could be the oil price before it also bursts? $200 , 300 who knows???

Isn’t it time that people demand from their central bankers and politicians that irresponsibe policies like keep real interest rate negetive and subsidies ultimately hurt poor people only and that these should be stopped?

Until such time, find a buuble to invest, get out before greed overtakes, find another bubble.

To put things in perspective,just a year back when oil came down to $65 a barrel ,a worried Opec Sec.-General had said they will have to find ways to stabilise oil prices around $75 a barrel.So,now when we are looking at a possible price range for the next quater it is likely to be between $115 to $ 128.Once hurricane,Iran issues are firmly out of the news then oil can slide to $80 or thereabouts.Finally,price of oil one year from now can settle at $65.

Demand and price is tied together. The fundamentals in the market simply wont allow the price the rise 200 or 300$ a some suppose it will. I think what we have seen the last week or so, is that the oil price has hit the ceiling for how high the price. The gas prices has especially in the US the demand of oil. I think we will see prices drop to between 90$ and 100$ per barrel within the next couple of months, and stay there for sometime. Any rise in demand from China and India will then be absorbed by a decrease in the US consumption, with the only exception being if the US economy suddenly goes in to bull again.
US consumption can still drop a LOT. According to this chart (http://www.swivel.com/graphs/show/20201879?limit_modifier=all&graphlimit=19&commit=%3E) does people in USA consume, more than four times as much as the average person in Europe and Japan. That is also why the american consumers has been hit harder by the rising oil prices. The reason behind this big difference in consumption is that the politicians in America has not dared to tax gas like it is done Europe and Japan. The gas prices in USA has still yet to hit same the prices of gas that there were in Europe in 2003, before the price started rising. If the US government long time ago just had started gradually raising taxes on gas (and used the money on lowering income taxes) so the people could slowly have adapted to a more fuel efficient lifestyle. Then the inevitable rise in demand from the emerging markets would never have hit the american consumers this hard.

Another thing people seem to forget, is that, China and India is not immune to the effects of rising fuel prices. While the Chinese government has tried to keep down the gas prices with subsidies, they still have very inflation rates over there, and it could in the end result in workers demanding more money. Which will make business less profitable. Then add to that most products from China and India has to be transported a very long way to the buyer, and the freight rate is also going up because of fuel prices. So if the oil price kept rising, that could potentially lead to a slowdown, and in worst case collapse, in Chinese and Indian economy, which then again will lead to a drop in oil prices. A drop there in case of a collapse could be much dramastic than the one to 90-100$, I proposed before.
But I dont think that is what is gonna happen. I think the America will blink before the Far East, when it comes to mad consumption of oil. America have the potential to reduce gas comsumption alot and the Americans just don’t have the money to keep on consuming that much gas, especially bot now with the credit crunch. While the Far East got momentum, which it will still take some time to really bring that down, even with the inflation. The inflation being a issue that the chinese government has its eye on, and is trying to contain.

If we try and look a little futher into the future, I think, the price of oil will slowly the next 5 year or so be approaching a price of oil around 50-60$ per barrel. That will be because of all the new projects around the world, that the oil companies are desperately re-investing their profits in, will start producing fuel. It will then settle around that height, just like after the second oil crisis.

Oil price will stabilize to a level when supply and demand balanced of. There will be other means of energy besides oil and it’s the affordability that dictates oil price. If the globle economy tumble, there are more to lose than gain for the whole world due to it’s chain reaction. Import and export will be seriously affected and a drop in demand will inadvertently bring down oil to the lowest level you can ever imagine. And too low a price will also be problematic. So before things goes out of hand, speculators should take measures now.

Fossil fuels will necessarily go down in price, because at some stage it will be the world,s top priority to be economically, politically and environmentally independent from them. When this is achieved, a revolutionary redistribution of wealth will result for the benefit of all mankind.

The oil price will show an ascendent flapping behaviour until the markets restore back its normality and volatility settles down. The fact is that not only issues related to speculation, supply and demand and market turmoil are the cause for this phenomenum, it keeps relation with the costs of production as well, since the global reserves are running out of “easily reachable” oil, while the Canada’s sand-oil, Brazilian deep water’s oil are incresing the companies’ costs; amid the taxes that oil producers insist to affirm that are high.
That is why is not an absurd to think that the oil prices are going up, if we do not discuss some old paradigms concerning the profitability of the oil companies; and if we do not let other alternatives, such as the sugar-cane ethanol, take place in Europe and US.

Oil will continue to rise. Your channel reported the national debt at 490 Billion, When the treasury .gov states that the public debt is past 9.5 TRILLION!!! There is now where to go but up. Each and every person in the United States owes over $35,000 each. Truth in reporting would be refreshing.

Speculations of 300 dollars a barrel will occur sometime during 2009. We better get used this level. No going back to “normal” price levels in the double digits. US Gas prices at the pump is still half of most european nations, including oil-rich countries like Norway and Great Britain.

We are witnessing the failure of the (overly) free-market system. Some have gambled too much, and yet, those who didn’t gamble at all are paying the price just the same. The US is pumping more money into its economy. If this latest gamble works, we go on as before and oil prices will increase until the next crisis. If it doesn’t work, the US will not only be left with the biggest deficit in history, but with an increasing one as well, due to decreasing revenues. In this case, oil price will, I’d say, depend on the rate of the US decline. If it declines fast, it would drag the entire world into recession and oil prices would fall. If it declines slowly, others will take over its leadership position, and oil prices would increase due to shortage of supply as a result of immanent world-wide peak-oil. We live in interesting times.

Hedge funds have a general rule of thumb, or investment criteria if you prefer to call it, that ten barrels of oil shoud be worth about the same as an ounce of gold. As we know, of late the spread between the two was too wide. This is one of the many reasons why oil is now dropping – from an investment point of view oil has got too expensive and downside is seen, prompting the ’speculators’ too change tactics.

It would be a tad useless to say that the increase over the last twelve months was due solely to speculation – most people prefered to believe that perhaps 5-10% was blameable. My bleary eyed guess was that at $147, oil was $60 to $70 too much in an unadulterated market and probably as much as $100 too expensive in a politically sound enviroment.

We really have no idea of the potential that investment houses wield. Their trillions really can make or break a situation. I personally am not against or in favour of what they’re allowed to do, although, the distortion often created by their manipulations can intensify unrest in more than one way.

I support any measure to become energy independent including drilling, coal, alternate energy technologies, nuclear, etc. because my immediate concern is to stop our dollars from flowing to OPEC nations; not to reduce gas prices as many appear to direct their focus. I’ll gladly pay $4/gallon as long as I know the money stays in the U.S. It is a simplistic view, but a correct one. Congress seems to miss this point. They argue it’ll take 20 years to move gas to market and only save us 2 cents/ gallon. I don’t buy that. Until we wean ourselves from fossil fuels, we need more domestic oil production in the interim.

It is not falling by definition, because of the spending that has surplused in the past 3 to 4 yrs. It would have to fall significantly by $2 or $3, if not then the economy will continue to bend. The cost was not going to go beyond $5, at least before August due to the high demand of import in these defensive strategic areas of error. These developed countries will destroy and exploit these vunerable markets of the world where lives are at risk, but when it comes to drilling on their own land they would rather not. Coincidently, because “environmental concerns.”

If we put solar panels on our roof tops, we would decentralize the power demand, lower demand, and we could plug in our cars. We created the solar technology during the NASA era and the majority of our population lives in the sun belt. Without such an obvious bold no-brainer move to solar we will continue down the road of oil prices gone wild, more pollution, and a planet doomed with rising temps.
What are we waiting for? Maybe big oil doesn’t like such a bold move.

Today Aug.05, Oil/barrel $119. Going Down…

The oil prices should rise, the politicians are doing nothing to reduce the usage of crude oil, and the only way to do this is through high price. When politicians mock someone of saying that properly inflated tires can save gas, you can imagine the pathetic state of the politicians. Our need for crude oil can be reduced by a significant amount by just being more efficient, like combining trips, car pooling, driving more effcient cars (not a 10 seater SUV when a regular sedan would do), driving in an efficient way ( not speeding up and braking like a maniac), telecommuting, using more energy efficient electronics etc etc.
Just think how much oil we can save if people started driving more smaller cars and drive them slowly. Contrary to the popular belief, smaller cars are not unsafe compared to a large SUV. A large SUV has more weight and hence more momentum for the same speed, the SUV is not as agile as a small car is to avoid an accident, also, with increased momentum the braking distance is also increased thereby increasing the possibility of a collision.
Any economy will not sustain a growth unless the society as a whole learns the importance of being more efficient.
Now there is no need to be extreme left winged about this and start walking or biking (it is good for health) nor should you ignore the whole global warming as the right wing would expect you to do, there is a perfect balance that can be found in the middle, where you can conserve as well as enjoy all the benefits that a capitalistic society has to offer for you

Oil prices are lower now (five dollars per barrel) than they were May 9th 2008 and yet gas prices are currently averaging 10-15 cents more per gallon. What is going on here? If the republicans want to press the national security issue maybe they should nationalize the oil and gas companies in order to protect this countries economy. Should we given in to the demands of terrorists? I think we all would say no! Yet the republicans want to give away this country to the oil industry in the face of rising oil prices! These guys are willing to do anything to screw over the American public and that is something we have to fight against.

Just right after the War in Irag, inflation of oil prices start to skyrocket. Why is this possible? Besides all the logistics, We can narrow it down to one tiny funnel, President Bush’s initiative to help the Iragi’s not to mention his investment in Oil (World’s number one eceonomy) and money (Bush’s main motive to becoming a president). That is why I am in favor of Barrack Obama, a democrat who will only focus on homeland necessities like health, education, infrastrature, and most of all inflation of prices on oil and food.

Germans can put solar panels on their roofs, and feed the power into the national grid. For the power they feed into the grid, they apparently get paid THREE times the price that they pay to take power FROM the grid. Many German families are increasing their incomes this way, TAX-FREE and legal. In a few years some German cities are going to be on this system.

Yet another war!!!!! Voll tanken!! Fill up with gas – again!

As long as they can stay in business by means of government force and manipulation, they may be able to dish out a penny or two on the gallon (an extra mile or two) . Also as long as people, even in these hard times are willing to buy more cars and eat out more (shoots your grocery bill up). In all fairness I think America should be in a state of depression with all that has been lost the last few years due to high government regulation. The model goes by if you give them an inch they’ll go a mile, possibly even till your out of gas.

What about you are talking?
Caspian crude oil only 60 mln tonn per year

USA is not the only country in the world. China, Russia, Arabic world and other countries have fast growing economies which need more and more oil, their people also become reach, buy more cars and so on. Very soon many of those countries-exporters of oil will use most of it for their internal needs…

I have, like many people followed the Oil prices; however the press always talks about the futures market. As these dealers are not producers nor direct consumers what is their role (other than making money) in the market. One can understand futures in, for example coffee, so as to stimulate or reduce production; however as it takes about 15 years to create new Oil production capacity and turning off the taps is easy and the asset stays in the ground for future exploitation. So why do we need these middle-men who I am sure play the market. When we talk about Oil at $120 a barrel, how much goes to producing countries and how much to the middle-men.

I somehow missed Darwin’s comment of July 29th, if he is even halfway right it is worse than I thought. Has anybody got access to some real figures.

In my opinion, the price of oil will continue to fall as Dollar goes up as compared to EURO. Now it is clear that Europe finds it difficult to cope with high inflation, as it has almost shattered its economic growth. So, ECB will soon consider easing up the monetary policy, trying to vitalize the European Economy, and this for sure will favor the Dollar. Given the fact that a 1% rise in Dollar’s value makes a 4 % decrease in oil’s price we’ll expect a decline in the oil’s price.

Now we see the spillover effect of US financial and economic troubles is at it’s apogee. Now all the world has been dragged into US-like economic problems, because of globalization and markets’ internalization. Practically, the world economy and financial system doesn’t work any more on the principle of the communicating vessels; it is turned into a big unitary pot. It means that, when US economy suffers all the rest of the word will suffer and vie versa. US economy is quite big enough to direct and orientate all the rest; also its securities markets are not to be compared with other countries, so all the world needs US markets. So, when US is in economic distress it will mean that all the world will contribute to heal it. This is the biggest advantage of globalization to US economy. They do employ the most sophisticated economy, financial system and securities markets. The compensating effect from Chinese and Indian economy is not sufficient, because when it comes to raw materials, everyone buys with international prices, so even Chinese or Indian production costs will go up.

The difference is found only on the business cycle duration, which is quite different for big economies (like US, EU, China, India, etc).

I read an article “Goldman Sachs: Oil Could Super Spike to $200”. Many investors started to sale their stocks, which may be effected by this Super spike news. Today oil price is around $112. I am very sorry to say, this super spike theory is too much danger and it was a biased report. Please stop such oil super spike and misuse of the statistics in the future. Save investors.

I feel that it will continue to fall for as long as there is a presidential election and the republicans jobs are on the line. I dont know how to connect the dots but thats what CNN is for.

What happened to the ‘investigation’ of oil profits? Where is the difference between OPEC as a whole and ENRON? I truly believe there is a lot of money that changes hands between oil and government. Why are lobbists legal? I would like to know what the rules are on lobbying and who makes them up. I’ve heard rumors, but not sure if any are true. Does Congress set the rules on lobbists? Can they set and change laws about lobbists? I have heard something about one lobbist versus two or more. Maybe it was one lobbist and more than one peron in Congress. What are the rules and who can change them and why? I’m not very political, I just know I’m being outsourced for the 4th time in my career. My last months gas bill was $838. My fuel oil bill will be $1000 or more. My S.S. checks start next year,unless that gets cut, too. That won’t cover much, but it will help. I have paid in more than I’ll be getting back. Where did it go? It got tapped by the government. I’m not a happy camper, and I’m sure I’m not alone. Good luck – India – Argentina – Brazil – Mexico & Canada.
Harley Hughes

oil went below $100 yesterday.

The oil is now below the $50 USD; demand is low worldwide.
Heaven help us!
I won my bet anyway; I wish I didn´t!!!!!!