Yeah I heard about $90 by the end of the year so given the fluctuations up and down through the season my bet is we could easily see $98 in 2011.

The question remaining though is oil prices if we have a disruption out east or a couple of these in the gulf, not atlantic, but the gulf and if oil rigs not only are abandoned but severely damaged.



Although I'll throw this out there even though this is squarely in 80's astro-physics world, scientist have been researching solar sunspot activitys relationship with climate. And these aren't the folks that link earthquakes and volcanoes to car emissions fwiw Sunspot activity goes on an 11 year cycle and right now we're in the lull. They're expecting it to increase in 2012, with it hurricanes might also increase. Or maybe it'll stay low > Sunspots were rarely observed during the Maunder Minimum in the second part of the 17th century (approximately from 1645 to 1715). This coincides with the middle (and coldest) part of a period of cooling known as the Little Ice Age. Hence observations about rivers freezing over in Virginia quite often during colonial times yet you never ever see it today. Frozen Delaware river anyone?

The hurricane season of 2005 was unreal. But since its been quiet. Maybe they're right. The doomsdayers fear a return to 1800s sunspot activity that brought the northern lights very far south and could cook the massive generators in the electrical grid and burn satelites.

Fun thoughts, carry on.