On 20-Apr-2006, "Doug" wrote:

There is no limit really. Name something else you can put in a tank and
burn that is less expensive. Alchohol? Biodiesel? Electric? Right now,
all of those are more. There is a pretty good chance it will go back
down, SOME. But I doubt we will ever see it under $2 again.


I doubt it, too. BUT, there are practical limits to prices for crude oil
and the distillates derived from it. One is the cost of producing
alternative sources of energy. If, instead of wasting hundreds of billions
of dollars in Iraq, we spent those sums on alternative energy R&D I am
convinced the US would gain energy independence within a decade.

The unique needs of aviation will continue to require high grade liquid
fuels (i.e. gasoline or kerosene). But many other applications, including
ground transportation, could be met with such alternatives as hydrogen fuel
or ethanol. That would dramatically reduce demand for oil and bring
gasoline and kerosene prices down. Of course, such a situation will also go
a long ways toward averting a global warming catastrophe.

-Elliott Drucker