: Oil price forecasts show a predicted near-doubling in the price of oil over the next 18 months; world oil prices are set to rise about 3% before the end of the year.: The market value of Brent Crude is currently $25.72 per barrel; up 11 cents on yesterday; and up 14 dollars per barrel since February 1999.
: As I pointed out in July, the OPEC countries will be producing over a third of the world's oil within the next 16 months; something they haven't done since the early 1970s.
: Oil makes plastics; oil runs cars; if the price of either goes up significantly, it's going to hit all Americans who use either. This means you.
If a massive shortage of oil comes about in the next 10 to 15 years, it will not surprise me if the U.S. economy takes a dip. I believe however, that we will find alternatives. Much of the technology required for making plastics using alternatives to oil has been proven and designed, it is only a matter of making it profitable. Simply, oil can be replaced, it is just a matter of developing the technology. Necessity is the mother of invention.
