Korean Job Discussion Forums

[MA_TESOL]

It will, I am absolutely oil will hit 200 a barrel and that will put a lethal blow to most economies. Please tell me if you think I am wrong

[the_beaver]

You're wrong.

[itaewonguy]

[shapeshifter]

[nautilus]

Another doomsayer.

The price of oil will never reach more than what the market can afford.
if it did, they would be shooting themselves in the foot.

It is in the interests of the producers to keep oil flowing. Not bankrupt their customers. (Unless maybe Al-quaeda were in charge).

It will reach a ceiling. Agreed, it will be brutal, but still within limits.

[Zenas]

[OneWayTraffic]

The price of oil is rising mainly because of supply, which has basically plateaued, and demand, which is projected to increase steadily at a few percent a year.

Speculation and the decline of the US dollar have certainly contributed, but they're not the key driving reasons why oil is expensive.

Whether oil is priced in Euros or dollars doesn't really matter so much. The price will reflect what people are willing to pay, and what people are willing to receive.

We used to have a great margin of production capacity over demand. In those circumstances, OPEC countries had the ability to pretty much determine the price. Now supply and demand are on a knife edge. In that kind of situation the price will rise until people can no longer afford to pay and find alternatives.

[big_fella1]

I believe that oil will hit $200 + a barrel. But the beauty of the market setting the price as many other technologies including solar, and hydrogen become viable at these prices.

The systemic weakness of the US dollar means that the oil price would be more stable if it was priced in euros. But the US will fight this very hard as changing oil to euros would lead to further falls in the US dollar.

To all those that say we can't afford to pay $200 per barrel so it won't reach there, I believe that we will pay this. From the 1990's to now oil has fluctauated from $12 per barrel to almost $140 per barrel Monday. Yet life still goes on.

China has a major appetite for energy, as does India (home of the recently produced $2500 dollar car).

We can moan about gas (petrol) prices being too high, but I say these current prices will be seen as cheap even in 6 months time.

[eamo]

I'm all for the price of oil going through the roof.

More people will think of saving energy and buying more economical cars. Thos greedy oil-producers/multi-nationals might just be doing the world a favor for once.

[doc_ido]

Don't forget as well that the price of oil in terms of supply and demand is governed by how much OPEC pumps out, which in turn is governed by the stated reserves of each member country. Countries have a huge incentive to lie about their reserves as it keeps their production quotas high (despite a general view in the oil industry that most fields are in decline).

As an example, Saudi Arabia's stated reserves in 1988 were 260 bbl. Since then, they have sold around 69 bbl. Their stated reserves as of 2008 are 260 bbl.[1]

References:

[1] Jim Rogers, a commodities investor, quoted in The Independent in January

[Minerva]

America needs to drill in her own country and not worry about killing the caribou. Damn liberals.

[Minerva]

[doc_ido]

[uberscheisse]

[shifty]

Even if prices stay as they are and not rise further, real problems are in store for a country like mine.... South Africa.

South Africa is a huge sparsely populated country. Foodstuffs have to be transported over vast distances and basic veges are often heavy. An inefficient public transport system reigns and much depends on a vibrant motoring public.

Contrast with say compact Korea, which has a homogeneous classless people using multi pronged transport systems.

When countries like South Africa fall victim to such burdens and there are socioeconomic repercussions then it will fall to other better equipped survivors to have to come and pick up the pieces. Losers all round.

I'm a worried man.