Oil, ick.
Just in time for my job search to be nearing conclusion (with the high probability of adding some miles to my commute) we hear that while oil is through the roof, the sky’s the limit.
The NYTimes has an article about a Mr. Murti, an analyst at Goldman Sachs.
A few years ago, rivals scoffed when he predicted oil would breach $100 a barrel. Few are laughing now. Oil shattered yet another record on Tuesday, touching $129.60 on the New York Merchantile Exchange.
Ah, I remember the good old days when we freaked out when gas approached $3/gallon after Katrina. A price I’d view fondly now, since we’re around $3.80 and might hit $4 by the end of the weekend.
Mr. Murti, 39, argues that the world’s seemingly unquenchable thirst for oil means prices will keep rising from here and stay above $100 into 2011. Others disagree, arguing that prices could abruptly tumble if speculators in the market rush for the exits. But the grim calculus of Mr. Murti’s prediction, issued in March and reconfirmed two weeks ago, is enough to give anyone pause: in an America of $200 oil, gasoline could cost more than $6 a gallon.
And apparently he’s not alone.
Boone Pickens, the oilman turned corporate raider, said Tuesday that crude would hit $150 this year. But many analysts are no longer so sure where oil is going, at least in the short term. Some say prices will fall as low as $70 a barrel by year-end, according to Thomson Financial.
Yet another nostalgic moment:
In the 1990s, oil research was a sleepy area at banks. Many analysts assumed oil prices would hover near $15 to $20 a barrel forever. If prices rose much above those levels, they figured, consumers would start conserving, suppliers would raise production, or both, causing prices to decline.