The price of oil reached $71.36 per barrel yesterday based on predictions that the price could eventually hit $250 and that reserves had fallen for the first time. Analysts and executives involved in the industry predicted that oil could reach $80 or $90 per barrel in the immediate future and OPEC stated that it would consider raising supply if the price hit $100 per barrel.
Alexei Miller, the chairman of Russia’s Gazprom energy group, reiterated his $250 per barrel estimate.
“This forecast has not become reality yet, given that the [credit] crisis gained momentum and exerted a powerful impact on the global energy market,” Miller said. “But does this mean that our forecast was unrealistic? Not at all.”
BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy showed that the world’s proven oil reserves had dropped by 3 billion barrels to 1.258 trillion between 2007 and 2008
