- Moderator
- #1
Here we go again. The increases have already started. I noticed it when I bought gas a few days ago. This can't be making the Obama reelection team happy.
Gasoline prices are headed for $5 a gallon in many locations in the United States this year, says John Hofmeister, founder of Citizens for Affordable Energy and the former CEO of Shell Oils U.S. operations.
Global demand will rise and pressure supply, while U.S. politicians aren't doing anything to ease prices at home such as allowing for significantly more drilling.
"What's really unprecedented is developing countries, particularly China and India, have this insatiable need for more oil and that has not been taken into account when we think of public policy in this country," Hofmeister tells CNBC.
"So while we may be producing a bit more oil in this country, and while demand is down a bit, on a global basis, I'm afraid we face a continuing onslaught of prices creeping ever higher," Hofmeister says. "I hope Im wrong on this. I'd love to be wrong on this."
The Obama administration has allowed for more drilling to boost supply although red tape often prevents those projects from getting off the ground.
Furthermore, by halting expansion of the Keystone pipeline project from Canada into the United States, the Obama administration further missed an opportunity to increase energy supply, while natural gas production needs to increase as well.
"We have not had the kind of public policy support for domestic natural resource production increases that would carry through into market prices in the United States given the global demand and geopolitical uncertainty that comes out of the [Persian] Gulf daily," Hofmeister says.
Prices may start causing some pain well before summer, or even before Spring Break.
Former Shell CEO: Get Ready for $5 Gasoline