The former president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister, says Americans could be paying $5 for a gallon of gasoline by 2012.
In an interview with Platt’s Energy Week television, Hofmeister predicted gasoline prices will spike as the global demand for oil increases.
“I’m predicting actually the worst outcome over the next two years which takes us to 2012 with higher gasoline prices,” he said.
Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst with Oil Price Information Service says Americans will see gasoline prices hit the $5 a gallon mark in the next decade, but not by 2012.
“That wolf is out there and it’s going to be at the door…I agree with him that we’ll see those numbers at some point this decade but not yet.” Kloza said.
“The demand is still sluggish enough in some of the mature economies.”
Check gas prices in your state
Gasoline prices have been steadily rising. Last week, gas prices crossed the $3 mark for the first time since October 2008. According to AAA figures, prices are up 4% from a month ago and 16% from the $2.585 average a year ago.
A study from the Oil Price Information Service estimates drivers will spend $305 on gasoline in December. According to the study, fuel prices are up 13.6% from last December and 76% higher from December 2008.
Gas prices eased off last week’s gains but still remained around the $90-a-barrel mark, settling at $91-a-barrel. Prices were down 51 cents from Thursday’s close after China unexpectedly raised interest rates over the holiday weekend for the second time in two months.
Oil prices settled above $90 a barrel for the first time since October of 2008.
This guy sounds like someone trying to talk the price up of the millions of shares he got when he retired right before he sells them.
The Obama Administrations’s anti-drilling policy is certainly a contributing factor.
Funny how the Republican’s win the election and gas prices are on a steady climb up. You know who the Oil companies have in their back pockets.
All recent Republican presidents have been agents of Big Oil. Yet the foolish American public voted them into office repeatedly, blissfully unaware, and uninterested in knowing, the price they are paying.
Must mean they are plotting to torch and spill at their refineries monthly instead of quarterly.
The solution is really simple. Drill baby, drill. Build new gas refineries. Make it a priority and stop all these environmental obstacles that are contributing to problem.
There is more than enough gas. Our country will do great on $1 a gallon gas. We will be crushed by $3+ gas.
If you want our country to survive, get more oil.
The solution is that the USA must drill for our own oil asap so that we do not have to buy as much oil from other countries as we do now. Palin totally gets that. Obama & all his democrat politicians don’t get it or else they do know this but hate the USA and its citizens so much that they won’t let us drill for our own oil, which is very sad and devastating to our country.
Obama does not hate. you hate johnjj
Hey, this guy is only a month or two behind Lindsey Williams, because he already predidcted this. But he thinks it will be by mid – to late 2011. If you don’t know who Mr. Williams is, he predidcted it a couple years ago before it did that oil would go up to near $150 a barrel, and then predicted it’s fall to near $40 a barrel. Just as he was told it would.
The Oil Companies can charge what ever they want and we just pay it. Thier profits continue to increase. The US Government needs to find a way to cap consumer prices, or our ecconomy will continue to slide..
Why are we paying anything after liberating and saving the ***** of the biggest oil producing contries in the world???? We are still spending 9 BILIION a Month on these moronic wars!!!! REVOLTION time folks!
Gasrat, gas prices have been steadily going up ever since Obama became prez. It is his policies that are contributing to our higher energy costs because of the moratoriums imposed and permits not given for drilling. It just isn’t gas prices that have been going up under his watch, but natural gas and electric rates too.
Listen, all you yahoos. You should spend a few minutes thinking before you post. Any oil drilled in the US goes on the same international market where Saudi oil and Venezuelan oil goes. It is ALL sold to the highest bidder. Also, oil prices fluctuate due to the state of the world-wide economy, going up when there is more activity and production (or some disaster like a war in Iraq that limits supply) and going down when the economy slows. Why, you ask? When the economy improves, factories that need oil are running more, vehicles that carry goods around are operating more, etc. DUH! Learn to think critically or we are all really F**KED!
Reality: It has nothing to do with old economic theories of supply and demand. It has little to do with political efforts or environmental goals. Gasoline prices keep rising because they can. Since we no longer hang pirates (see, Somalia), the big oil/gasoline companies have nothing to fear by gouging. The “predictions” (Lundberg, et al.) are just PR that is used to create excuses for regular raises.
Fedup, you are foolish. Obama’s destructive economic policies are devaluing the US Dollar and the is what is causing all commodity prices to hyper inflate. Oil, cotton, copper, etc, etc. There is much more than supply and demand working here.