luxury1

I know that nobody knows for sure but I believe that we have some oil/gas experts on this forum that might have a decent prediction.

Where do you see prices going over the next 5 years? Is it likely that we will be seeing $10 per gallon prices in the US soon?

dunnojack

to infinity and beyond

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

We won't care in ten years, nothing will run on gas. We'll either be converted over to hydrogen, run on ethanol entirely, or some other hybrid form of energy such as natural gas, electric, or a million other possibilities.

The problem is not using a different form of fuel, it's the time it takes for a company to get the car out there that is compatible. In a decade we'll long be into alternative fuels and who cares about gas..........

ISF_GG

iTrader: (2)

I sincerely hope that we are not using ethanol at all in 10 years, at least not using edible food to make it. To make enough ethanol to satisfy our needs in the US would require a huge amount of edible food that is better suited to feeding us, not our cars.
As for gas, in 5 years prices will mst likely be higher. By how much depends on how much new drilling is done to meet expected increases in demand. I would say $5-6/gallon or higher could be expected.

-J-P-L-

10 years isn't that long O.L.T. In 10 years, the auto market will STILL be mostly regular gas powered cars. How much has happened since 1999?? A handful of hybrids, that's it. Everyone is working too slowly for real advances to take place plus it costs too much.

The alternatives you mention will be coming around and developing but surely won't replace gas any time soon. Just to switch to hydrogen for example would take $10's/$100's of billions and quite a few years to develop an infrastructure.

Will gas be $10 a gallon? No, the market won't support it. Many predictions called for $5 this summer. Now gas is back down to $3.65 in the middle of it.

luxury1

I agree that we won't be completely off of gas for a long time. Even then people will still need it for cars that are on the road now.

mmarshall

In the short term, prices will drop, for two reasons. First, people have reacted to high gas prices by conserving, driving less, and getting more efficient vehicles. It's a classic case of supply and demand....demand is dropping, despite the peak summer driving season, and less demand usually mwans price drops. Second, Bush, McCain, and Obama have, all three, to some extent, agreed on the need for more offshore drilling....Obama somewhat less so than McCain. The way that oil price speculation works, just the POSSIBILITY of more exploration, drilling, and increased supply has caused the same speculators that bid prices up to start bidding them down again. 87-Octane gas at the pump, in my area, on average, has gone from around $4.15-4.20 a few weeks ago to $3.85-$3.90 today.

However, in the long term, I think gas prices will once more rise, partially due to the relentless growth in the Asian economies which, for the most part, is beyond our control. Even if we convert somewhat to alternate fuels, one poster correctly ponted out that gasoline will still be needed for the millions of conventional cars that will still be in service.

As to the specific question of $10 a gallon fuel, I don't think we'll see it in America, for several reasons, unless the entire auto industry (and infrastructure) converts so much to alternate fuels that there is very litle damand for gas and a limited market left for it. Then, despite the traditional laws of supply and demand, we will see expensive auto gas because of economies of scale and a very limited market, just as we see expensive aviation and marine gas today for the country's relatively small piston-powered fleet of aircraft and boats............the military and airlines converted to turbine engines and jet fuel (kerosene) for most of their needs decades ago, and left a very small market for piston-powered aircraft and boats.
It's possible that we will see at or close to $10 a gallon for aviation or marine gas (not turbine fuel), but I don't think so for car gas...the public would not tolerate it.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

as long as we have gas for the rest of my lifetime, i think i would be happy, i couldn't imagian letting classic car because there was no way to run them, as far as the price, maybe 8 dollars or what it is in Europe now, i mean they pay for it, or maybe we will transfer to more diesel cars, i wouldnt mind that

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

I see U.S. gas prices once again going much higher, because I think "do gooder" U.S. politicians will cause this through more regulation, more taxes, plus Asian oil demand growth.