WASHINGTON -- Oil's historic ascent from 100 U.S. dollars to nearly 150 dollars a barrel in just six months is lending weight to a far grimmer prediction that Crude could reach 200 dollars a barrel by the end of the year.
Few oil watchers are now ready to bet that oil will hit 200 dollars a barrel by New Year's Eve. But nearly all are wary of predicting how and when oil's upward stampede will be reversed, said a report carried by Monday's The Wall Street Journal.
Paolo Scaroni, head of Italy's biggest oil-and-gas company, EniSpA, said last week that he could see prices hitting 200 dollars a barrel this year.
Chakib Khelil, president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has predicted that crude could go as high as 170 dollars a barrel this summer.
Falling gasoline use in the Untied States has done nothing to put a damper on prices, largely because growing demand elsewhere in the world has managed to keep global supplies tight, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"The reality of it is, swings in U.S. consumption just don't matter that much anymore," said Jeffrey Rubin, chief economist at CIBC World Markets, who is predicting that oil will average 200 dollars a barrel in 2010.
Few oil watchers are now ready to bet that oil will hit 200 dollars a barrel by New Year's Eve. But nearly all are wary of predicting how and when oil's upward stampede will be reversed, said a report carried by Monday's The Wall Street Journal.
Paolo Scaroni, head of Italy's biggest oil-and-gas company, EniSpA, said last week that he could see prices hitting 200 dollars a barrel this year.
Chakib Khelil, president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has predicted that crude could go as high as 170 dollars a barrel this summer.
Falling gasoline use in the Untied States has done nothing to put a damper on prices, largely because growing demand elsewhere in the world has managed to keep global supplies tight, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"The reality of it is, swings in U.S. consumption just don't matter that much anymore," said Jeffrey Rubin, chief economist at CIBC World Markets, who is predicting that oil will average 200 dollars a barrel in 2010.
