'Super-Spike' Could Drive Oil to $200

Experts say $150 or more isn't out of the question as world demand grows.
By Jim O'Neill,  Newser Staff
Posted May 7, 2008 8:35 AM CDT
'Super-Spike' Could Drive Oil to $200
An oil worker walks on a new well Tuesday, May 6, 2008, which is being drilled in the Sakhir, Bahrain, oil fields in the Persian Gulf..   (AP Photo)

A “super-spike” could push oil beyond $150 a barrel by October, the highest it been in more than 135 years, experts say. That would drive the price at the pump past $4.50 a gallon and trim US economic output 3.3% in the 2 years following, reports the Wall Street Journal. Crude sold for a record $121.84 yesterday, up 96% from a year ago.

"A lack of adequate supply growth is becoming apparent," Goldman Sachs told clients yesterday in predicting $200. Analysts say where prices top out is anyone’s guess: Factors ranging from production slumps in Russia to violence in Nigeria continue to drive them up despite a million-barrel-a-day drop in US demand. Rising demand in China, Russia, and the Middle East has more than offset that decline. (More crude oil stories.)

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