Originally posted by ODC: Even with more refining capacity, the price wont' go down that much because the oil companies have to recoup the cost of the refineries.
Simple fact, supply is steady, demand is increasing drastically.
Yet there is adequate supply to meet demand, so there is no reason for the price to go up. It is not needed to encourage additional production.
Steve Forbes believes the price is horribly over-inflated, and foresees the bubble to burst... to half price in the next 12 months.
AP Forbes Expects Oil Price to Dip to $35 Monday August 29, 11:01 pm ET Publisher Steve Forbes Says He Expects Oil Price to Dip As Low As $35 Within a Year
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Steve Forbes, the American publishing executive, said Tuesday he expects the price of oil to fall as low as US$35 a barrel within a year, blaming the current price spike largely on speculation.
Forbes, in Sydney for a conference of global business leaders sponsored by his organization, said that U.S. inflation was helping fuel the rise "and the rest of it is a sheer bubble of speculation."
"I think in 12 months we are going to see oil down to US$35, US$40 a barrel," he said.
As Hurricane Katrina lashed the U.S. Gulf Coast on Monday, oil hit US$70.80 a barrel, before retreating.
"It is a huge bubble, I don't know what's going to pop, but eventually it will pop," Forbes said of the oil price.
