$225 Barrel of Oil by 2012?
Apr 24th, 08
CNBC’s World Markets Chief Economist Jeff Rubin is forecasting oil trading at $225 per barrel and gasoline prices of $7.00 per gallon by the summer of 2012.
The report predicts oil prices hitting $150 per barrel in 2010 and $225 in 2012. In a recent interview on CNBC Rubin states, “I think in the next four to five years we’re going to see prices almost double again”.
Such increases would certainly have an adverse affect across the entire world as the costs for petroleum based products, such as plastics, would skyrocket. Further increases in the prices of nondiscretionary petroleum driven goods, such as food, would force consumers in most parts of the world to cutback their purchases to just the basics.
The report goes on to forecast gasoline prices of over $4.00 per gallon this summer, $5.50 per gallon by summer 2010, and $7.00 per gallon by summer 2012. Rubin, in a recent interview, warned of a “huge, huge gasoline crunch” in the
With up to 90% of the demand for oil being used for transport fuel, $7.00 gasoline is almost a certainty if oil tops $200 per barrel. That type of pricing would certainly have an impact on the driving habits of Americans as more and more would seek cost saving alternatives such as car pooling, public transportation, hybrid vehicles, and work from home opportunities. Rubin stated, “We’re heading to a world where gasoline is going to cost six to seven dollars a gallon and that’s going to get people off the road”.