Ex-Shell Oil boss: $5-a-gallon gas possible by 2012
After a couple years of relatively low gas prices, $5-a-gallon gas could come as soon as 2012, predicts former Shell Oil President John Hofmeister, according to CNN Money. He gave his forecast in a television interview.
The good news is that $5 is his worst case prediction. Other analysts, including Tom Kloza of Oil Price Information Service, see gasoline reaching $5 a gallon in the new decade, but not by 2012. A gallon of regular gas averaged $3.06 a gallon yesterday, AAA reports.
The predictions take into account a growing global economy tightening the world's oil supply. Holfmiester, seen the photo at right from 2006, cites China's and India's growth and President Barack Obama's crackdown on offshore drilling as the primary reasons for the short-term gas hike.
There's little that Americans can do to affect the price of oil, according to CBS News. According to the EIA, while it will take developed countries like the United States, Japan and Europe until after 2020 to reach 2007 levels of oil consumption, the developing economies of the world will bring us back to pre-2007 levels of oil consumption by the end of this year.
World Oil and Gas Prices
After a couple years of relatively low gas prices, $5-a-gallon gas could come as soon as 2012, predicts former Shell Oil President John Hofmeister, according to CNN Money. He gave his forecast in a television interview.
The good news is that $5 is his worst case prediction. Other analysts, including Tom Kloza of Oil Price Information Service, see gasoline reaching $5 a gallon in the new decade, but not by 2012. A gallon of regular gas averaged $3.06 a gallon yesterday, AAA reports.
The predictions take into account a growing global economy tightening the world's oil supply. Holfmiester, seen the photo at right from 2006, cites China's and India's growth and President Barack Obama's crackdown on offshore drilling as the primary reasons for the short-term gas hike.
There's little that Americans can do to affect the price of oil, according to CBS News. According to the EIA, while it will take developed countries like the United States, Japan and Europe until after 2020 to reach 2007 levels of oil consumption, the developing economies of the world will bring us back to pre-2007 levels of oil consumption by the end of this year.
World Oil and Gas Prices