Posted on 09/05/2005 7:39:23 AM PDT by cloud8
PUBLISHING billionaire Steve Forbes has predicted that soaring oil prices will lead to a crash that could make the hi-tech bust of 2000 "look like a picnic".
Mr Forbes, publisher of Forbes magazine, said the price of oil, which peaked at more than $US70 a barrel on Monday as Hurricane Katrina headed for the US Gulf Coast, was unsustainable.
He said factors such as inflation and increased demand for oil from China and India accounted for only a small part of the price hike from $US25-30 a barrel three years ago.
"The rest of it is sheer bubble speculation," he said.
Mr Forbes, who was speaking at the opening of the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Sydney yesterday, said the higher the oil price rose, the harder it would eventually crash, creating more pain for hedge fund managers and their clients.
"I don't think it's going to go to $US100 but if it does the crash is going to be even more spectacular," he said.
"It will make the hi-tech bubble look like a picnic -- this thing is not going to last."
He predicted that oil would fall to $US30-35 a barrel within a year.
Mr Forbes's comments came as the price of oil eased following US Government comments that it could release some of its Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The 700 million barrel stockpile is set aside for emergency use and could be used to counter oil shortages caused by Katrina's impact on the Gulf of Mexico, which accounts for about a quarter of US output.
After leaping nearly $US5 a barrel to $US70.70 on Monday, US oil futures retreated more than $US1 a barrel yesterday.
Link please. I really have a hard time understanding how anyone came up with that figure considering the variables involved. That sounds more like lift costs (production) than drilling.
Are you invested in oil futures or oil company stock? If it's futures, you most certainly are a part of the cause of the dramatic rise in oil prices.
I made sure in my post that I was talking about the workers. Sure stuff is gonna get broke but the most important thing to do is make you have all your men back at it to fix the stuff.
Thats the part of the plan that sounds like it could have used some tweaking.
I don't know that's for me to decide. That's a job for their conscience. Problem is, they don't have one.
And where is their profit coming from?
$6-a-gallon gasoline that costs them a tenth of that, combined with inelastic demand.
I see the price per barrel increasing and the wholesale cost being bid up, so I'm assuming their costs are increasing just as fast.
You'd be assuming wrong. If that were true, then you could expect their revenues to go up, but their profit to remain static. However, their PROFITS are up 25 to 90 percent over the same quarter last year. That's PROFIT, not gross revenue.
You misspelled "profiteering".
I live in Norway right now, and I'm paying $8.00 per gallon pr. today's prices. Huge increase over normal you ask. Nope, just 10% higher than last week. Who's raking it in you ask? The government. Taxes make up 80% of the market price of gasoline in this country. Have people stopped driving yet? NOPE! I fill 50,000 liters a month in my trucking business, and the world still turns. All this, and take into consideration that Norway is one of the top 5 oil producing countries in the world. With the 2nd. largest oil money fund on the market next to Kuwait. Any relief? HELL NO! They stick it to the people everyday. Can we expect any less? It'll only get worse right up until the revolution. And yes, I'm dead serious. The bastards.
You are making obscene profits and hurting people in the process.
That make you feel good, you bastard?
profit is okay, not obscene profit that may take down the entire economy and hurt average Americans.
you have links to these profit reports?
..."He predicted that oil would fall to $US30-35 a barrel within a year."
Another prediction...the feds and states will automatically raise the taxes because fuel will then be a bargain. Get ready. They are used to the level of taxes that they are receiving now, just like a whore on crack.
I couldn't find the source I had for the $6/barrel worldwide average cost for oil production. However, this link shows the production cost for Saudi Arabia at $1.50/barrel.
> What do you think is driving this country and its economic engine, apples?
Historically it's been cheap energy.
> I hate to be negative...once oil prices do indeed retreat as they must, we won't see any relief at the pumps.
And, for us in the northeast, at the heating oil tanker.
> Now the bastards know that we'll pay pretty much anything, and the world still keeps turning. Soon the governments taxes on gas will increase 10 fold to make up the difference.
That's when W has to step up to the plate. Because if he doesn't, the Dems are going to be in a perfect position to make it The Issue.
"My problem is with the manipulation of the prices to create HUGE, OBSCENE profits."
HUGE OBSCENE profits create HUGE OBSCENE incentives to undercut those prices or substitute other products. Where is the problem here?
Yep.
From your mouth to God's ears.
Except getting into the oil production business isn't quite as easy as hanging your shingle on a shack. Prepare to spend a skillion dollars on lawyers just to get past the regulatory muckety muck.
You misspelled "profiteering".
You're right, I did!
Hahahahahaha. Yep, indeed. So, you're not saying which you're invested in? I understand.
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