Posted on 01/27/2006 5:23:10 PM PST by LouAvul
DAVOS, Switzerland (FORTUNE) - Be afraid. Be very afraid.
That's the message from two of the world's most successful investors on the topic of high oil prices. One of them, Hermitage Capital's Bill Browder, has outlined six scenarios that could take oil up to a downright terrifying $262 a barrel.
The other, billionaire investor George Soros, wouldn't make any specific predictions about prices. But as a legendary commodities player, it's worth paying heed to the words of the man who once took on the Bank of England -- and won. "I'm very worried about the supply-demand balance, which is very tight," Soros says.
"U.S. power and influence has declined precipitously because of Iraq and the war on terror and that creates an incentive for anyone who wants to make trouble to go ahead and make it." As an example, Soros pointed to the regime in Iran, which is heading towards a confrontation with the West over its nuclear power program and doesn't show any signs of compromising. "Iran is on a collision course and I have a difficulty seeing how such a collision can be avoided," he says.
Another emboldened troublemaker is Russian president Vladimir Putin, Soros said, citing Putin's recent decision to briefly shut the supply of natural gas to Ukraine. The only bit of optimism Soros could offer was that the next 12 months would be most dangerous in terms of any price shocks, because beginning in 2007 he predicts new oil supplies will come online.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
My wife will enjoy biking to work, seriously. ;-)
Maybe if at least 10 Nukes go off.
These good ole rich boys would not be trying to scare the little people because of politics now would they?
So this is a story from Yahoo, quoting CNN, quoting George Soros.....
If this isn't Soros trying to manipulate the market... I don't know what is....
Geopolitical problems may drive it that high, but Peak Oil will be the fundamental driver. Investment banker Matt Simmons, for example, is predicting $200-$250 oil by 2010.
I'm sure it is you piece of cr*p Soros, he's probably already arranged it with his mussie friends...
Time to drill - ANWAR, California, Gulf Coast, National Parks, etc.
Opps. It's from CNN. Not Yahoo.
Markets can be manipulated, but eventually the fundamentals will catch up.
Fundamentals being: Mexican oil production peaked last year. Kuwait peaked last year. Kuwait cut their reserves in half last week. And so on. Peak Oil will be here soon and may be the defining event of a generation.
Well if all of these are possible scenarios then bring on the technology that allows us to get oil from shale. Let the rest of the world pay $262 while we sit fat and happy on our own resources.
So what. I hope it hits 5 bucks a gallon this summer. Alternate fuels will be developed in short order if that happens. I just hope it doesn't cripple us for too long as we adjust.
Seriously, we are very close to realizing what only crackpots used to spout 20 years ago. Ref: http://www.clean-air.org/
There are an estimated one trillion barrels of oil recoverable at today's prices from the oil sands of Alberta. The number one customer for that oil is the USA. If the Arabs want to sit on their oil, embargo their oil, eat their oil or rub it on their camels' heinies, I say let them.
There just isn't that much there. We need to find an alternative to oil.
$262/bbl oil is not sustainable over a long period. There are plenty of other technologies -- coal liquefaction, biodiesel, and the like, that become profitable well before that pricepoint.
Peak Oil is for the most part nonsense.
But thanks to years of shenanigans by the left, Peak Pinch Points is indeed a concern.
Well, Soros bet on John Kerry and the 'Rats in the last election and lost everything he invested.
Before the United States allows oil to hit $262 a barrel, you will see total mobilization and a combined U.S./NATO occupation army moving into the Middle East for keeps.
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