Gas prices have more than doubled in the last few years. Who's to say it won't do that in the next few years?

Question

What will we be paying for gas in the next few years?

Answer 1

The price of oil generally follows supply and demand fundamentals but is easily influenced by world events and political meddling. The problem is that we are not necessarily running out of oil but the maximum amount that can be produced at a given time; i.e. peak oil production.

Further incremental oil production is getting expensive and I am sure more than one company has pulled back due to the risk that the price will fall before they have earned enough to pay for their investment.

Even as the price continues to rise things are happening to reduce demand and this will ultimately cause crude prices to fall again. What no one can say for sure is how high the price will get before it begins to fall and how low might it go thereafter. Forecasts suggest $220/bbl within the next couple of years on the upside and $70/bbl on the downside.

I felt that a price over $125/bbl would trigger a U.S. recession and that the price would get to that level and then decline to the $80/bbl level. However, the price continues to rise and it looks more and more like the U.S. is heading into a recession so all bets are off.

Prices could double. It more than doubled during the OPEC oil embargo in the seventies. But as history teaches us, the higher the price the more supply comes on line. Demand will also fall as substitutes such as public transit and car pooling become more attractive and as we cut discretionary travel, stay home more on vacations and even look at more fuel efficient vehicles. All told increasing supply and reducing demand means lower prices.

Answer 2

Probably double so go buy a motorcycle or scooter

Answer 3

Gas prices will keep rising, because world supply is currently fixed and world demand is increasing. increasing supply is the only way to reduce gas prices.

Answer 4

I paid 79 cents a gallon, 10 years ago at a gas station in Youngstown, Ohio. A barrel was $8 US Dollar.

After the cold shower of reality in the 70's, that oil is a finite commodity and some efforts to curb USA thirst for it, all reason was lost in the 80's and 90's.

We will be paying the ticket for our shortsighted behavior for a long time.

Countries like China can afford to pay $250 for a barrel of oil and thats not even the ceiling.

And for drilling in the USA, that won't make a dent, the oil fields here are tiny and the oil is to dirty.

Answer 5

some countries gas it $7-$9 a gal

there's no end in sight