Oil Price on New Year's Eve? Your guesstimate?

[syberberg]

$99.99

Without the price getting to $100 before then.

[Keela]

Prices seem to be going the wrong way for my guess.... I really don't "get" all these price fluctuations at all!

[Adam1]

The latest Tom Whipple article on EB today with details of the latest OPEC decision may make some of us re-visit our guestimates!

http://www.energybulletin.net/38229.html

During the meeting a highly placed, but anonymous, official spread the story that the Saudis were asking for a 500,000 barrel a day increase and were arguing with those who were opposed. This of course made the Saudis look like good guys to Washington and the OECD no matter what the ?decision?. When the doors opened, it was announced that production would stay the same and that the matter would be reviewed on February 1.

That should settle the matter for another couple of months. If it is a cold winter and demand really goes up than we could see our economy-damaging $100+ oil after all. If the credit crunch reaches the levels that some fear, then OPEC made a good decision, as demand will drop.

[careful_eugene]

$87.28 and falling to around $84.00 before hitting the $100 mark by the third week of Jan.

The above is just a random (if precise) guess

[skeptik]

Prices seem to be going the wrong way for my guess.... I really don't "get" all these price fluctuations at all!

Thats because you're listening to white noise and trying to hear a tune. There's nothing to 'get' in short term market jitter.

two stories published today:

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnf ... exclusives

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i5Tt ... AD8TC1J280

blah blah blah... short term price movements are not worth wasting any time on. A lot of the 'churn' isn't in any way related to reality - just computers buying and selling according to a program in response to other computers buying and selling according to a program.

Graphs with time measured in decades along the X axis are the interesting ones.

in answer to the poll - have no idea, couldn't care less anymore as have got bored with the whole short term guessing game. Didn't vote.

[MacG]

I always get these things wrong. No luck with stocks either. I'm sure that if I bought a graveyard, people would stop dieing.

[Pippa]

92.93

[Pippa]

Yikes,

Changed my mind and now think 86.75 mainly 'cause I think the dollars havin' a little rally.

Sorry to *'! the poll cause I've now put my X in 80's and 90's

[Norm]

Maybe it would be more fun to poll for where the price will be new year 2009. Then we could look back and see how wrong we were!

Or has this been done?

[Pippa]

Ha ha!

Thought I was going to be clever and vote twice, board won't let me, so much for putting spokes in wheels.

[Keela]

Maybe it would be more fun to poll for where the price will be new year 2009. Then we could look back and see how wrong we were!

We'd probably have forgotten that we'd ever done a poll by then.. so short term gives quicker entertainment.... (in this world of instant gratification! )

in answer to the poll - have no idea, couldn't care less anymore as have got bored with the whole short term guessing game. Didn't vote.

I don't think any of us take this too seriously. (And I agree totally with your comments that the long term changes are the real ones to watch.) It just provides some amusement in these dark days/long nights and after the recent fluctuations I thought the whole price thing seemed so uncertain that a poll would give us a chuckle....

... sorry you don't want to play.

[Adam1]

Ha ha!

Thought I was going to be clever and vote twice, board won't let me, so much for putting spokes in wheels.

Pippa - as an administrator, I'm sure you could find a way around that.

[Keela]

Bump! Just in case of any further guesses!

[Bedrock Barney]

I voted a couple of weeks ago. I went for $89 and happy to stick with this.

edit: HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL YOU POWERSWITCH PEOPLES!!

[rabbit_hop]

Private Eye reader, so had to go for $94.94...