Motley Fool: Why Oil Prices Will Rise Again

Back in July, around the time the oil price peaked, common consensus went
along the lines of ...
The world is running out of oil.
World demand for oil is high and only going to get higher still in the years and decades ahead.
Most of the world's cheap oil has already been discovered.
Oil exploration companies increasingly have to drill for oil in more and more
difficult places. This adds to the cost of exploration and in the event of a
discovery, the cost of extraction. Either the price of oil stays high and goes
even higher, so that it makes these new discoveries economical for the oil
companies, or the oil stays in the ground. Given the increasing demand and the
world's complete reliance on the naturally depleting natural resource called
oil, it has to come out of the ground.
Oil was seen as a natural hedge for the falling U.S. dollar.

Click the subject line for the link to the Motley Fool article

OPEC Calls Emergency Meeting

IHT: OPEC calls emergency meeting as oil prices fall

Oil prices dropped below $70 a barrel for the first time in 14 months Thursday, prompting the OPEC cartel to call for an emergency meeting next week to establish some stability in prices that have plummeted recently after rising for months.

Oil prices have tumbled by nearly $40 a barrel in just three weeks as indications grow that demand for energy will slow along with weakening economies around the world. As recently as July, oil was trading at a record of $145 a barrel.

The decline in oil prices could provide a form of stimulus to the global economy as consumers pay less to fill up their tanks. If oil prices stay at current levels, American consumers would have $250 billion more, over a year, to save or spend elsewhere, according to Lawrence Goldstein, an energy economist. Some analysts expect oil prices to keep declining, perhaps to as low as $50 a barrel in coming months.

All worries about oil going to $25 is misplaced. While it is true that the price of oil has collapsed more than 50%, it is still higher than where it was just 14 months ago. Just for comparison try the Dow or S&P at multiyear lows.

Oil price still don't reflect a global depression. While a serious global slowdown is on the cards, it will come nowhere close to a depression. Money printing is rampant, the deleveraging will pass and inflation will be sticky.

Many alternative energy startups will go bust, oil sands and deep sea drilling would become unprofitable. Which means there will be severe limitation on future supplies at lower prices, which is price supportive.

At some point all those Asian countries with dollar reserves are likely to use it to stimulate their economies and that is dollar negative. Once the warp speed deleveraging is close to over, the dollar rally will be over as well.

Central Banking in a Nutshell

Just for a laugh..... ( via campaignforliberty.com )

Poll: Whither Price Of Oil?

Cool It

If you have exposed yourself to jet set/carbon trader/gazillionaire Al Gore's global warming propaganda (I have), you owe it yourself to know the other side of the debate( debate is hardly over ). I found this book very interesting - "Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming ".

Or you could watch "The Great Global Warming Swindle". It is free on video.google.com

Or you could read this short article - "I was on the global warming gravy train".

After having observed the environmentists for a while, I have come to the conclusion that environmentalism is a religion, a very intolerant one. According to the environmentalists, if you refuse to dogmatically follow the Gaia any other intolerant enviro-doctrine, you will fry along with the rest of the planet. In that respect, environmentalists are very similar to evangelicals - they both peddle salvation.

Radical environmentalists believe that the earth's human carrying capacity is about 400 million. They hope and pray for a massive human die-off that will reduce the population by 90% ( Oil Shock is not making this up ). Their view of the human race is akin to that of a virus/disease that should be stopped.

In other news from the energy universe, protests in europe turn violent

(Images courtesy of Mish's global economic analysis )

Carbon control treaties were meant to raise the price of fuel and reduce consumption. Now that the treaty getting closer to achieving its stated goals, the carbonistas don't like the outcome.

It is even silly to believe that a bunch of Soviet style central planners could just press a few buttons, pull a few levers and there by command and control the global climate.

Am I suggesting that the environmentalists the only reason for the pain at the pump? Not at all. But the NIMBY/BANANA groupies are adding to the troubles.

Matt Simmons on Bloomberg

Simmons discusses Saudi Arabia, Gas prices, Oil prices, Peak Oil etc.

Oil Shock is here!

"Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon" - Milton Friedman.

It is not the price of things that is going up, it is the value of money going down. See the chart. (Money supply in green and Gasoline price in Red). Price of gasoline futures are up a good 14 cents, just today.

I believe there is enough evidence to suggest that peak oil is here. But the mainstream public or the financial markets have not bought it completely. There has not been any serious declines in global oil production. Given that scenario, peak oil alone could not possibly explain the current prices.

Oil is bubbling according to the "experts", at the moment. It would seem as though it will climb until it breaks the back of the U.S economy. Prices are likely to be higher 2-3 years from now, regardless of whether it goes down in the near term. Peak Oil come to mind. An attack on Iran and all bets are off.

Bernanke's "strategy" of bailing out crooks through inflation, is clearly not working. Benny is not as fortunate as his predecessor - when greenspan expanded money supply, the price of stocks, bonds and housing (later on) went up. Now, real tangible things have a lot of catching up to do.

Robert Hirch on CNBC

Oil continues to rise

Oil price - Outlook

Outlook for crude oil

Oil Reaches Record High, Closes above $80

Peak Oil Linkfest - 07/22/07

After peak oil: Will America survive?

As public awareness about peak oil continues to grow, and even the big oil companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. are now starting to admit that the future supply of oil looks troublesome (see this Boston Globe article), there's an increasing focus on renewable energy solutions. But most members of the public still don't understand energy very well, and they generally have no idea whether alternative energy sources like solar, wind or CSP (see below) can replace oil. Many people are concerned about a potential collapse of modern society due to the end of cheap oil. So to help answer some of these questions, I've put together a set of uncensored, science-based answers about oil, renewable energy and the future of modern civilization. This is offered in a Q&A format.


PM to discuss Iran crisis at Bush summit

GORDON BROWN is to discuss the looming crisis over Iran with President George W Bush on his first official visit to America as prime minister. The summit may take place next weekend at Camp David, the presidential retreat, although the dates and location are still being finalised.

It comes as one Washington source said the mood in the Bush administration had hardened in favour of military strikes to prevent Iran developing a bomb. “There are increasing signs that Bush will not want to leave a nuclear-armed Iran as his legacy,” the source said.


BNP plans to seek safety in Croatian idyll

When the fossil fuels run out, leaders of Britain's far right hope to survive on a farm in the Balkans.

A few miles from the historic southern Croatian town of Knin lie 1,100 hectares of farmland and a couple of abandoned buildings. A tributary from the river Krka runs through the lush countryside nestled close to the sun-drenched Adriatic coast.


Lots of energy, shortage of policy

The U.S. National Petroleum Council's new report on global energy markets, believed to be one of the most extensive studies of its kind, received mixed reviews this week from greens and others whose policy ideas depend on an ever-present looming catastrophe. Especially put out by the 470-page report, titled Facing the Hard Truths About Energy, were the peak-oil theorists, who believe disaster is imminent as the world supply of conventional oil is set to peak, triggering a catastrophic decline.


OPEC oil prices hit record high

The daily average oil price of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) hit a new record of 72.83 U.S. dollars per barrel on Monday, up 0.34 dollars from the previous trading day and 0.16 dollars higher than the previous record set last August.

The OPEC's weekly average prices also reached a record high of 71.86 dollars per barrel, 0.14 dollars higher than the previous record set in the second week of August 2006, the cartel's secretariat said on Tuesday.

Peak oil Linkfest - 07/13/07

President: Iran not to halt uranium enrichment work

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the West should not expect his country to suspend uranium enrichment. He made the comment as a delegation from the UN nuclear watchdog arrives in Tehran.


Reader Mail: Peak Oil, Global Economy Shifts Away From US Towards Asia

Some questions about Peak Oil from a reader. And by the way, while we don’t always have space to publish your questions and comments in the e-mail edition of the Daily Reckoning, there is plenty of room in the comments section under any post on the website. You can respond directly to other readers, too. Here’s a question:


Play peak oil before you live it

On April 30, 2007, an oil crisis shook the world. Supply chains were interrupted, and in the ensuing weeks the price of gas pushed higher and higher, peaking around $7 per gallon. The American economy sputtered to a halt as shortages spread -- Detroit's car factories cited lack of demand and shut down for the duration, trucking fleets scrambled for fuel to move their cargo, supermarkets jacked up their prices, and commuters bitched and moaned and grudgingly changed their lifestyles. Looting broke out, along with the occasional riot.


IEA boss denies and confirms peak oil in same breath

It seems that the International Energy Agency, the intergovernmental energy watchdog, has been going in overdrive lately. First, we had the interview of its chief economist warning us that we were going toward a wall without Iraqi oil, then the recent publication of their yearly outlook report predicting shortages within 5 years, and now we have another disquieting interview in Le Monde, the big French daily, with Claude Mandil, the head of the Agency, who pulls no punches, despite an apparent denial of "peak oil". Follow me below the fold for a translation.


OPEC says no plans for increased production; crude prices continue upward

Light, sweet crude for August delivery was up 99 cents a barrel to trade at $73.55 midday on the Nymex. London Brent crude made its way above $76 a barrel before settling at $75.44 a barrel – up $1.36.


Why does Kuwait keep its oil reserves secret?

Kuwait's Acting Oil Minister Mohammad Al-Olaim has reaffirmed the oil reserves at 100 billion barrels under the pressure from the members of parliament.

Some lawmakers had threatened not to pass this year's budget, which is with a projected deficit of around 10.3 billion U.S. dollars, if the oil sector didn't tell them the truth about the country's oil reserves.


Global Warming May Spawn Floods of Beaches and Cities

Global warming may spawn more flooding at northeastern U.S. beaches and cities and disrupt the ski industry unless heat-trapping emissions are curbed, scientists said in a report.


'Swindle' director hits back at critics

THE director of a controversial documentary about global warming airing on ABC television tonight says he's been vilified for challenging popular theory.

Briton Martin Durkin directed The Great Global Warming Swindle, which seeks to debunk the idea that climate change is being caused by human activity.


The Peak Oil Crisis: A Tale of Two Reports

In the last few days, two important reports on the prospects for world oil production were “released.” While these reports reach diametrically opposite conclusions, each of them, in its own way, is likely to make a contribution to the debate over just when the economic troubles occasioned by the peaking of world oil production will occur.


Platts Survey: OPEC Oil Output Up Slightly in June, Well Above Target

The 10 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) bound by the group's crude oil output agreements boosted production by 40,000 barrels per day (b/d) to 26.6 million b/d in June, from a revised May level of 26.56 million b/d, a Platts survey showed July 11. This is well above the 25.8 million b/d production target set in February by the so-called OPEC-10.


Net Oil Exports and the "Iron Triangle"

As Matt Simmons pointed out several years ago, the critical problem with post-peak exporting regions is that we would have two exponential functions (declining production and generally increasing consumption) working against net exports. From the point of view of importers, it is quite likely that we are facing a crash in oil supplies. In my opinion, what I have described as the “Iron Triangle” is doing everything possible to keep this message from reaching consumers.


U.K. Parliament Members Form `Peak Oil' Study Group

The U.K. parliament formed a group to study peak oil, the theory that world oil production is approaching its zenith, as British lawmakers face up to the country's future as an energy importer.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas, which held its first meeting June 26, comprises 32 members of the House of Commons, or lower chamber, and seven from the House of Lords, or upper chamber.


Ethanol Boondoggle: Your Taxes at Work

In recent years, the price of gasoline has soared as the supply of crude oil has risen in response to unprecedented global demand. But never fear, Uncle Sam is here! Citing the need to decrease our country’s dependence on foreign and potentially unreliable sources of energy, Congress, encouraged by President Bush, has passed laws mandating that ever-greater quantities of corn-based ethanol (CBE) be produced, and subsidizing this production with tens of billions of dollars. Could it be that our leaders are finally demonstrating bipartisan unity for the good of the country? Well, “unity,” yes, “good,” no.


The Coming Conflict in the Arctic

Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush spent most of their time at the “lobster summit” at Kennebunkport, Maine, discussing how to prevent the growing tensions between their two countries from getting out of hand.

The media and international affairs experts have been portraying missile defense in Europe and the final status of Kosovo as the two most contentious issues between Russia and the United States, with mutual recriminations over “democracy standards” providing the background for the much anticipated onset of a new Cold War. But while this may well be true for today, the stage has been quietly set for a much more serious confrontation in the non-too-distant future between Russia and the United States – along with Canada, Norway and Denmark.


Climate Expert Questions Gore's Global Warming Campaign

This past weekend concerts took place around the world to focus attention on the problem of global warming, which former U.S. Vice President Al Gore says is the greatest single threat facing humankind today. Most of the world's scientists agree that it is a problem and that it is largely caused by human use of fossil fuels, which produce so-called greenhouse gases that trap the Earth's heat. Al Gore and scientists who wrote the United Nations report on climate change say the debate is over and the time has come to act. But some prominent climate scientists are objecting to that, claiming that the debate has yet to even begin. VOA's Greg Flakus recently spoke to one of them and filed this report from Fort Collins, Colorado.


The biofuel myths

The term "biofuels" suggests renewable abundance: clean, green, sustainable assurance about technology and progress. This pure image allows industry, politicians, the World Bank, the United Nations and even the International Panel on Climate Change to present fuels made from corn, sugarcane, soy and other crops as the next step in a smooth transition from peak oil to a yet-to-be-defined renewable fuel economy.


Kuwait and IEA Show Declining Oil Production Future

Crude oil prices could reach levels of US$100 per barrel or more if some of the latest production factors in the news become reality.

Not only has the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA), the energy watchdog of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, warned in its latest medium-term oil market report that a market crunch is looming over around 2012, but some OPEC producers are breaking even more negative news. After a short analysis hype in the beginning of 2006, analysts have been forgetting to cover OPEC countries currently battling reserve issues.


Peak Oil Now?

Demand for oil is continuing to grow, and threatens to burn up excess oil capacity by 2012, according to a new report released today by the International Energy Agency.

Excess capacity in OPEC is forecast to drop by 2 million gallons per day by 2009, and to virtually zero out by 2012. It won’t take until 2012 — or 2009 for that matter — for the cost of that tight supply to ripple through the economy straight down to the American homeowner and car driver.

Peak Oil Linkfest - 07/08/07

Around the Markets: Biofuel demand gives lift to commodities

Sugar, corn, wheat and cotton may be among the best commodity investments in the next one to three years, driven by biofuel demand and rising incomes in China and India, according to UBS, the world's largest money manager.

"Investors can expect to see a 6 to 10 percent plus return per year on those investments," Stuart Fox, UBS's head of commodities in Asia Pacific, said by phone from Hong Kong. His energy and commodities traders and sales team in Asia has more than tripled to 16 people in the past 12 months.


Green facade: Why the state's eco-friendly cars aren't doing the job

During the past two years, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration sunk more than $17 million into a state fleet of cars and trucks designed to be environmentally friendly.

So far, the 1,138 "flex-fuel" vehicles have traveled a collective 10 million miles and burned more than 413,202 gallons of gas.


Real Alternative Energy Sources

If Congress is going to subsidize energy to free us from dependence on foreign oil, it should — at the very least — spend our hard-earned taxpayer dollars on something that will work.

The unfortunate truth is that neither ethanol nor any other so-called renewable alternative energy now being discussed on Capitol Hill is likely to make any significant contribution to our energy needs.


Marchetti's Curves

This is a brief account of the Energy Susbstitution Model developed by Cesare Marchetti in the 1970s at IIASA. Using data from the latest BP Statistical Review the evolution of the energy market is compared with the model to understand why the Hubbert Peak of fossils fuels represents a problem today.


World 'building up risks over energy supplies'

The world is not running out of crude oil and natural gas but there are 'accumulating risks' to securing global supplies through 2030, a high-level board of US oil company executives found in a report.Those risks include "political hurdles, infrastructure requirements and availability of trained workforce," according to the study by the US National Petroleum Council, conducted at the behest of US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman.

The NPC, whose members include executives of big oil companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron, will present the study at its July 18 meeting.


Oil hits 10-month high near $75 on Nigeria, demand

Oil surged over 2 percent to nearly $75 a barrel on Thursday on strong demand and as fresh violence in Nigeria spurred supply concerns.

London crude rebounded after slipping from earlier highs on U.S. government data that showed crude supplies rising and refiners ramping up gasoline output to meet summer holiday driving demand.


Is Fear About Climate Change Causing a Nuclear Renaissance?

Some prominent environmentalists are urging that we reconsider nuclear power. But they have been met with resistance from many who believe nuclear power never will be a solution to global warming.

Sitting in the belly of the beast -- Dominion's 2,000-megawatt Millstone nuclear power plant in Waterford, Connecticut -- the company's chief nuclear officer, Dave Christian, seems an unlikely environmentalist. But he says concern about climate change is what got him involved in the peaceful pursuit of the atom in the first place.


IAEA: Iran Slowing Expansion of Nuclear Enrichment Capabilities

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran has slowed the expansion of its nuclear enrichment capabilities.

In Vienna Monday, Mohamed ElBaradei said IAEA inspectors have seen a slowing in the installation of centrifuges that enrich uranium at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility.


Opec has little power to ease oil price – Algeria

Algeria’s Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil said yesterday there was “not much” Opec could do to bring down high oil prices as global crude stocks were already sufficient.

“There is plenty of stocks. It’s a problem with capacity and refining,” Khelil said ahead of a gas pipeline conference in Brussels. “Even if it (Opec) increases production, it’s just going to increase stocks and not have any effect because prices are drawn by petroleum product prices.”


World facing oil ‘supply crunch’ as demand soars, agency warns

The world faces an energy squeeze as soaring demand for fuel exceeds the rate of growth in the supply of crude oil, the West’s leading energy forecaster has predicted.

In a gloomy appraisal of the global oil balance, the International Energy Agency yesterday predicted a world of increasing market tightness beyond 2010. The world faces a “supply crunch” by 2012, according to the agency’s Medium-Term Oil Market Report, with weak increases in oil output from nonOpec countries colliding with strong demand and diminished spare capacity within the cartel of oil producers.


Exploding a fair few wordy myths

AFTER recent comments from Defence Minister Brendan Nelson, debate is raging over whether America and Australia went to war in Iraq because of oil.

This is absurd. Nobody was more surprised to discover that Iraq had oil than the Allies. Goodness, with all that fuel around, it was just as well that those weapons of mass destruction were only prevented from exploding by the fact that they didn't exist. Otherwise, the whole country could have gone up in flames. Oh, wait a minute … Anyway, here are some ideas that should probably be blown up.


Iran's oil output to fall without investment - report

Iran's oil production capacity will fall by five percent a year without new investment, a senior oil official was quoted on Sunday as saying by the Iran's student news agency ISNA.

Iranian officials have previously put production capacity at a little more than 4 million barrels per day (bpd), with actual output -- limited to a quota set by the oil cartel OPEC -- running at a little below 4 million bpd.


Corn ethanol could be a dead end

As the nation fights to lower its dependence on foreign oil and Colorado works toward a new energy economy, the buzz word in energy circles is “ethanol,” and using it to power cars, trucks and electricity has become a hot topic.

But as the conversation continues, ethanol experts and politicians are beginning to agree that corn-based ethanol may not be the magic energy solution many have come to see it as.


Can I diet my way to a lighter eco footprint?

Lose weight and save the planet. It has all the hallmarks of a zeitgeist diet book and perhaps a TV series in which I will travel around putting punters on scales, measuring out their porridge for the day, and perhaps changing their light bulbs. But there is some validity to the idea that you can simultaneously shrink your waistline and your carbon footprint.

An extra 100lb of weight carried in your car, for example, reduces fuel economy by around 2 per cent. Even Richard Branson recently signed up to losing a stone before he takes an inaugural flight on one of the superlight carbon-fibre Boeing jets he has bought in order to save an extra 36lb of CO2. Given that his fleet allegedly produces 7.4m tonnes of CO2 a year, that's not a hugely rewarding diet


Will the coming oil crisis be the end of suburbia?

Three years ago, when I started to teach Introduction to Sociology for Lamar Community College, my brother sent me the DVD, “The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream,” concerning the “coming oil crisis."

I showed it to my class to help the students better understand “social change” and what would happen to society during such a crisis. They hadn’t even heard that we were going to face such a crisis. It’s no surprise, most Americans hadn’t heard of it either; that was three years ago.


Peak Oil Passnotes: $80 Oil Beckons

The price of a barrel Brent crude is working its way back up to its records of $78.64 set last August 7. A steady and sure combination of factors has pushed it over $75 per barrel.

But when it pushes up against levels of $78 per barrel, which way is it going to go then?


Academic challenges global warming theory

An Australian academic has spoken out against the popular view that global warming is caused by greenhouse gas emissions. He believes that global warming and climate change are caused by cycles in the sun's electro-magnetic radiation. He says scientists are taking a narrow view and politicians are making policy with the wrong information.

Emeritus Professor Lance Endersbee AO is a former Dean of Engineering and Pro-Vice Chancellor of Monash University. He told Tom Harwood, ABC Western Queensland's Morning Program producer that the world has been warming naturally due to increased magnetic radiation from the sun.


Ethanol, Corn, Milk, Prices Increase

It appears that oil and gasoline aren't the only things that are going up in price these days. Milk, everyones favorite beverage, has gone up in price once again.From $3.80 to almost $5.00 a gallon. But milk however, isn't the only thing that will be on the rise. Other dairy products such as butter, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream will too.


Sugar, Grains, Cotton May Be Best Commodity Buys, UBS Forecasts

Sugar, corn, wheat and cotton may be among the best commodity investments in the next one to three years driven by biofuel demand and rising incomes in China and India, according to UBS AG, the world's largest money manager.

``Investors can expect to see a 6 to 10 percent plus return per year on those investments,'' Stuart Fox, UBS's head of commodities in Asia Pacific, said by phone from Hong Kong. His energy and commodities traders and sales team in Asia has more than tripled to 16 people in the past 12 months.


North Sea is running too dry to meet target

The energy industry warned yesterday that government targets of keeping Britain's oil and gas production at 3m barrels a day by 2010 look like being missed. North Sea competitiveness is falling and financial backers are losing confidence in the wake of tax increases introduced 18 months ago.

Civil servants have been working with oil companies to find ways to boost output offshore, but the 2007 Economic Report issued by the industry organisation Oil & Gas UK says the goal looks like being missed after five years of rising hopes.

Oil hits seven-month high, palladium shines

The price of crude oil reached the highest level since September in London trading this week as the market worried about tight US stockpiles of motor fuel heading into the peak demand season.

Palladium was an unlikely star performer among precious metals, with its price approaching a one-year high. Lead and nickel notched up further historic records amid dwindling stockpiles. Friday’s prices are compared with those recorded late on Thursday of the previous week. Markets had shut on Friday, April 6 owing to the Easter festivities.

Peak Oil Passnotes: Crude Oil Sets Its Sights High

Regular readers of this column will remember how shorting by traders in the third and fourth quarters of 2006 dragged oil down as low as $49.90 intraday. The floor price set at the end of 2005, around $55, seemed unbreakable, yet a year later it failed. We were surprised.

At the time crude seemed a long way off breaking back towards its $78.40 highs, even if it did end up where we thought it would, around $61 on Christmas Day. But today the signs are there again that crude really could surge once more. Could crude really get back over $75 this year? Could it set new records?

Pickens Tells CNBC Oil Is Heading Higher

Pickens predicts a new high for oil price this year.

IEA says OPEC has tightened supplies too much

Crude oil prices were up on Thursday as continuing refinery problems, including a new shutdown at a Citgo refinery in Louisiana, mean less gasoline available for drivers as the summer driving season nears in the United States. In addition, the International Energy Agency has said that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has tightened supplies too much, threatening that global supplies will be insufficient for the next few months.

Pickens sees crude retesting record high in 2007

T. Boone Pickens, long known as one of the biggest bulls in the oil market, said crude will probably reach $78 in 2007, retesting the record high set last summer.

Pickens, a trained geologist turned investor whose $4 billion hedge fund BP Capital earned over $1 billion last year, said strong demand and limited supply will drive crude prices higher during the coming months.

Commodities guru Rogers sees oil hitting $100/bbl

Commodities investment guru Jim Rogers said on Tuesday he expects oil prices to hit $100 a barrel as part of a larger commodities bull run that could last another 15 years.

With new oil discoveries struggling to keep up with rising demand from emerging economies in China and India, Rogers said crude prices will surge past historical highs.

Let market dictate alternative energy sources

They come with metronomic regularity, these media stories about "soaring" gasoline prices and the causes thereof, news stories that always identify the same two culprits, supply and demand. The stories always give various reasons why supplies are tight — more often, why prices include a risk premium based on fears that supplies might become tight — or why demand is higher than it "should" be, given supposedly high prices.

Boone Pickens on Oil prices

Oil production will peak soon, we can react now

Today's American lifestyle requires high quantities of oil. Almost everything we use in our daily lives uses oil. Purdue and other schools throughout the state, country, and world around us use oil as fuel to heat and cool buildings. In the past decades oil use has sky-rocketed to its current rate of 84.5 million barrels per day and is estimated to rise to 86 million this year and to 100 million by year 2010.

These ideas come back to the concept of Peak Oil: That at a point in our near future, the production of oil will peak. After the "peak," prices for most goods we use on a daily basis will begin to climb. Sky-rocketing prices will hurt our economy and could send us into an economic depression.

Copper futures up on increased demand, especially in Asia

Speculators on Tuesday pushed copper futures to hit their highest level since early November as demand grew, especially in Asia.

The most-active May copper contract rose 13.55 cents to settle at $3.3145 per pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It peaked at $3.3240 a pound in after-hours electronic trading, its strongest level since Nov. 8.

Crude: Barrels of fun to crack you up

In 1949, the movie It Happens Every Spring chronicled the professional baseball exploits of a bookish US Midwestern science professor, played by Ray Milland, who discovers a chemical coating for baseballs that will make them impossible to hit. However, if somebody was making a movie called It Happens Every Spring in 2007, the subject would not be baseball, but the now annual spring reaming that oil consumers are once again undergoing at the hands of the world's oil interests.

Commodities Trounce Stocks, Bonds on Oil, Soy Revival

Commodities are beating stocks and bonds for the first time in nine months, and the quarterly rebound is likely to continue on China's increasing imports of raw materials.

Oil, gold, soybeans and sugar for delivery at the end of the year on the New York Mercantile Exchange and the Boards of Trade in Chicago and New York show at least a 3.7 percent appreciation, beyond the 5.7 percent gain in the UBS Bloomberg CMCI index of 28 commodities through March.