How high will gas prices get?
I think sleepy but can’t sleep is exactly right. There is no rational explanation for continually rising oil prices. Oil and other commodities are going through a bubble period fueled by speculators, just like tech stocks and housing over the last decade. Oh, gas prices may keep rising in the short term, maybe even as high as $5. But at some point the bubble will pop and prices will fall dramatically. My bet is within 2 years, gas prices will be back down to $3 per gallon or lower.
There are a few options that will bring gas prices down. 1) The government will step in to reconstruct the way oil companies are functioning. 2) When prices get to be more outrageous than they are, we won’t have any other choice than to boycott the major oil companies. We will see the need to buy our gasoline from alternate suppliers, then those big oil providers will have to drop their prices. 3) Alternate energy sources. How far the prices are predicted to get in the next three years is any ones guess.
There really can be no limit to how high gas prices can go, and it all depends on the price of oil. Right now, the main source of oil is Saudi Arabia, and it is nearly a monopoly. Oil Production has been limited for some time and it is barely starting to increase. If you keep the supply low while the demand is high, you get prices like what we have right now. If we can find a way to cut the demand, we can see prices drop again. Otherwise, how does $6 a gallon sound?