$200 oil "Super Spike" within 6 months?
If $120+ per barrel of black gooey stuff of puts you in a bad mood, you might not want to read this. According to energy strategist Argun Murti of Goldman Sachs, "Surging demand was increasingly likely to create a 'super-spike' past $200 in six months to two years' time." Yikes! Ethel, get in the ark! No, first help me with this pair of aardvarks! While a high price for oil might bode well for the environment if it translates into less of the stuff being burned just to move us around, that large a gain in as little as 6 months could really put an economic hurtin' on people the world over. I probably don't need to remind everyone that the cost of, well, everything is pretty much tied in some way to the price of fuel. Of course, we did bring up the possibility before a couple months ago and even OPEC has mentioned it but with the time frame potentially being so incredibly compressed, it's a little worrisome. The rise is being blamed on a slow speed of growth of supply coupled with increased usage in countries like China and India. Maybe it's time to dust off that bicycle. Thanks to Aviv for the tip.
[Source: The Economic Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Wildgoosechase73 3:55PM (5/07/2008)
My main concern is that somebody with an agenda and more money than sense will buy oil at $200 a barrel again just to make news. There is a ton of speculation in the oil market now perpetuating the problem.
Thankfully we have bio fuels on the horizon.
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Peter Wang 3:54PM (5/07/2008)
"Thankfully we have bio fuels on the horizon."
An SUV tank worth of ethanol uses enough corn to feed a human being for a year. That's nothing to be thankful for.
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mike 4:11PM (5/07/2008)
Beware of prognosticators.
Could it be that Goldman Sacks has just bought up a Lot of Oil Futures at Current Price and needs to Make a Profit in Six Months?
I don't know but, hold our wallet when a Wall Street Racketeer speaks.
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dann bohn 4:13PM (5/07/2008)
@peter wang.
citiation needed.
Also, E85 doesn't have to be made from corn. I'm sick of hearing about corn. e85 is going to make food prices go up!!!! oh no! here is an idea, you can use switchgrass for fuel, or even corn by products.. there has to be a better way to make the fuel. as for your statment above, what do you suggest we do. come up with a better alternative, and i'll give you a kiss.
love,
dann
see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switchgrass
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Zigster 4:17PM (5/07/2008)
now that everyone is beginning to see through this speculation bubble these GS idiots are going to get what they deserve
double digit oil this year
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Rick 5:07PM (5/07/2008)
Does does outrageous oil prices turn into peddling religious beliefs? Anyways, this is a truly scary situation given a ton of oil increases are due to wall street. So now someone from wall street is making this claim only makes it seem even more twisted. Will be an interesting summer for sure.
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TG 4:46PM (5/07/2008)
Tip: Magana is a big producer of all sorts of auto elements in a vast series of plants.
As you would expect, head honcho Frank Stronach in a Times Colonist business page story, declares,
** Wages threaten Auto Industry **
** car workers earn far more than average **
[ predictable and boring. ]
==========================
The tip, my friends, consists of of one paragraph buried in the 1/3rd page item...
** Magna executives said the company is working on AN ELECTRIC CAR, with a view to bringing it to market within a year and a half. They said Magna will open a new product innovation and training centre in North America. **
==============================
Now that makes sense. The big three slow down due to *gas-guzzler* products so Frank applies all his car parts to his own EVs that should sell like hot cakes. Look Ma, no gas.
http://finance.aol.com/quotes/magna-international-inc/mga/nys
So far I see nothing EV on the Magna website though. = TG
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KarenRei 5:06PM (5/07/2008)
He better start blowing up some wells, because production keeps rising:
http://www.worldoil.com/INFOCENTER/STATISTICS_DETAIL.ASP?STATFILE=_WORLDOILPRODUCTION
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TomtenT 6:07PM (5/07/2008)
It's like a race.
While alternative fuel, lowered consumption (encresed effeiciency), exchange and abandoning
all makes for ever increasing cuts in consumption -
- but of course our friends at the oil wells are
hellbent on keeping their level of profit.
They'll give us just about any substitute for a credible reason as to why they'll
have to rise the price.
And of course our other friends - the auto makers - tries to keep their profit levels.
( Largely by keeping the ancient combustion engine technology with all its profitable components - gearboxes, clutches, exhausts, fuel pumps & filters, radiators, waterpumps, alternators, oilpumps & filters, air filters, spark plugs - - you name it ! )
Motors don't have to have pistons and burn stuff !
( - and waste more than three quarters of the energy )
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fnc 6:34PM (5/07/2008)
How much would demand have to rise in the period since its last run up began to support this kind of extended price? Has anyone run the numbers on oil use vs. demand?
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stevefazek 6:56PM (5/07/2008)
I am ready to kill some specutive traders as well as commodity traders. High Food Prices? Guess what ADM and all the food trading companies are reporting double profits.
These gas prices are being driven up by the same AHs that created the real estate bubble and the dot com bubble before it. Crude oil should be at 60-90. It really isnt worth any more then that. Think of it these morons want a raw material thats quite plentiful to go for 4 bucks a gallon.
I can see oil slowly climbing till mid summer then just crashing back to sub $100. You can only push a false lack of supply and convince investors the price will keep rising so long before the abandon this bs.
history has shown any rapid spike is followed by an rapid drop not just oil but gold, food, housing
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stevefazek 6:57PM (5/07/2008)
supply and demand is a linear equation, The reason why its not being one is because of people screwing with it. If this wasnt a Commodity but stock price people would be in prison by now. But since commodity's are completely unregulated they get away with this crap.
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mike 7:57PM (5/07/2008)
Let me just add that, yes, demand is DOWN in the US, and I don't trust these Wall Street Racketeers. But, China and India have rapidly growing economies ( thank you WALMART, and the rest of the CEO thieves ), and a rising middle class will increase world wide demand.
However, does it justify $120 a barrel oil? I don't think so, but, I don't have a GLOBAL Economic Model in front of me.
Then there's the question of the FED printing money at an inflationary rate. Why? What good reason can they have for printing and therefore DEVALUING the Dollar? So, Oil is a hedge against inflation.
We need OPEN SOURCE Economic Modeling software available to the public.
Not that I'd have the time to learn to use it.
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Kevin Nugent 8:36PM (5/07/2008)
Well if you really look at it oil rigs and platforms are very vulnerable to terrorist attack . Alkqida and the terrorist don't need to hit our major buildings to create damage. In fact that is just one of the most inefficients ways .imagine if terrorist did kamakaze attacks on 20 huge major exxon or mobile or oil rigs ??? Do you think that prices will go up . Hell yea they will soar . No imagine if they some how destroy one of our gas refineries?? Automatically gas prices is 5 dollars a gallon . Think about it people. In nay event im getting the volt ev as soon as it come out so i wont be hurt .
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Jason 12:23AM (5/08/2008)
Poster #3, Mike is dead on the money. Look at the people who are first to call price hikes in oil all the time.
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Chris 7:46AM (5/08/2008)
dan bohn,
switchgrass is actually worse for the environment compared to corn in recent studies.
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James Bowe 8:58AM (5/08/2008)
Why do people think growing inedible crops for fuel has no impact on food prices? It does use up land doesn't it? Couldn't food be grown on that land? The argument is that we should grow fuel crops on currently unused lands? Well that works, except that there is not nearly enough land in the world, unless we chop down every tree in sight.
Also, can we all learn the definition of the word 'spike'. It's only a spike if it's pointy (aka - if it comes right back down). Otherwise, it's a dramatic rise...
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rob 9:16AM (5/08/2008)
Tulipomania!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania
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why not the LS2LS7? 11:47AM (5/08/2008)
Speculation on basic human commodities should be illegal.
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Wise Golden 12:10PM (5/08/2008)
"1. "Thankfully we have bio fuels on the horizon."
An SUV tank worth of ethanol uses enough corn to feed a human being for a year. That's nothing to be thankful for.
Posted at 3:54PM on May 7th 2008 by Peter Wang"
So wrong in so many ways...
1) Ethanol is made from field corn, not human food.
2) Farm Production of field corn has increased each year by an amount that is larger than the consumption of the ethanol industry. In other words, more corn is wasted today – than 10 years ago. World starvation has nothing to do with biofuel. It has everything to do with money and politics (not ours – theirs.)
3) 2.7 gallons of ethanol from 1 bushel of corn. SUV tank = 17 gallons, = 6.29 bushels of corn, which would not feed a human for even a month (I just thought I would throw that in for chuckles.)
4) Seriously, you people need to gain a real education on biofuel and stop listening to the oil industry funded mis-information that seems to be popular everywhere, including here.
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