Ce

Currently, oil prices are under $70 per barrel and they look as if they're on net webhosting way to $50 per barrel. If you'll recall oil was under $30 a barrel and then started climbing very rapidly and it didn't stop until it hit $140 per barrel. Eventually this bubble collapsed as consumers stopped driving and changed their habits, refusing to buy gasoline and finding other ways to get around. Now that the prices are lower not everyone is resuming their old ways of wasting gasoline.

OPEC recently raised their oil barrel prices and yet the price per barrel still went down. This is because the demand is also down and it appears with the economic crisis that the demand will still be lower than previously expected. But what about the long-term oil prices? What will the oil prices be like next year or during the next upward business cycle? What about in 20 years; what can we expect? These are all important questions for forecasters and oil industry analysts.

They are also important questions for energy infrastructure projects and alternative energy. After all, sources of energy and power must compete against each other and if oil prices stay low it will still be competitive with new emerging technologies and alternative energies. One group, the Climate Progress Report recently noted:

Estimated oil price per barrel; $66.6 during financial crisis, then up to $100 per barrel during 2008-2015, and then $200 per barrel by 2030 according to IEA World Energy Outlook...Oil prices will rebound to more than $100 a barrel as soon as the world economy recovers, and will exceed $200 by 2030, the International Energy Agency. . .Current global trends in energy supply and consumption are patently unsustainable."

Suffice it to say, our oil challenges are not going away any time soon. It has been a huge drag on our economy and while we are having a temporary reprieve from ultra-high oil prices, they are still too high and they will eventually climb back up due to Global Demand, and well, there is not much we can do about it. Please consider this in your economic forecasting.

Lance Winslow - www.carwashguys.com/history/founder.htmlLance Winslow's Bio If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.nethttp://www.WorldThinkTank.net