Oil Boom

The price of oil is up, way up, on fears about political instability in the Middle East. Buy oil if you want. It may go up more. Probably will.

In reality, I haven't heard that in fact, the social and political unrest in the Arab World has affected oil production at all. In fact, big oil producers are selling existing excess inventory into the steepening price curve.

Around here, gasoline is getting close to $4 a gallon. I assume that similar price increases are taking place around the World. This is going, at least in the short and medium term, to depress petroleum consumption. There is already a World wide glut of oil stocks left over from the last crude oil price surge fueled by rampant speculation that ended precipitously 2 years ago.

In the long term, the price of oil has nowhere to go but up. This current round of price increases will end badly though and pretty soon, I think. Might be time for that last big road trip in the motor home soon.