Set price fuel for 3 years

Shane .
The way the price of oil has risen over the past few weeks, it will not take 2 years.
Vince

...and another mob have predicted $US40 a barrel, I prefer that one!

Time, I prefer it too, but what did they base it on? It is simply supply and demand. There is nothing to suggest that demand is going to fall and ther is nothing to suggest that supply can be raised more than a fairly small amount, and even then,that would only be for a short time. All the new fields are relatively small and very expensive ie, deeper and deeper and usually further an further offshore.

I can't see that after the Olympics, Chinese demand for oil will fall. There is a huge and rapidly growing middle class there that want all those goodies we have had for the last fifty years. Same goes for India. And they can now afford them. The head of BHP spoke on this today. There is simply no way that oil prices will fall significantly. An occasional short term, small fall perhaps. but then followed by a continuing upwards movement.

my comment on china not needing as much oil was based on the great rush to have every thing finished for the Olympics, not just the building but the relocation of many industries away from western eyes, and the major dam and electric projects which means cable power not generators (diesel) . as these middle class get their goodies, there drain on resources gets smarter.
the western world is cracking down on crap products from china and demanding a better quality. i know there is always going to be those that buy cheap and then buy twice further increasing the demand but the trend in changing. in the last twelve months a few on this forum have had a whinge about things such as stainless steel on campers rusting, powder coating lifting etc. this means the process has to get smarter, hence the need for better machines, better power supplies, better working/ manufacturing environment again leaning towards smarter drain on resources.

I just don't see that moving some industries around because of the Olympics will have any impact on oil demand. The biggest industrial centres aren't near Beijing any way. Also don't see the relevance of the comments on Chinese quality. Remember when everyone laughed at Japanese quality? Besides, China now makes very high quality products as well as the cheap stuff. Further, given the emphasis on science and technology in their education system, compared to the west where science and maths graduates have been in decline, you wouldn't want to bet that out quality/innovative edge will last another generation or two. So0 yes, they will keep building new and better plant and energy demand will keep rising, as it will in all countries.