Forget about the 38 percent drop in U.S. crude oil prices since June and the 26 percent slide in gasoline prices, says Jigar Shah, founder of solar company SunEdiso.
"The price of gas will go back up, I guarantee it," he writes on CNBC.com.
While some experts view OPEC's failure to agree on production cuts at its meeting last week as a sign of the cartel's weakness, "the motive seems to be to shut-in Arctic oil efforts in Russia, oil shale in Canada, deep sea oil in Brazil, and fracking in the U.S.," Shah says.
"Some folks say that $55 a barrel is the break-even point for oil, while others say once it stays below $80, the ability of unconventional oil to raise more junk bonds will be severely curtailed. Either way, one thing is clear to everyone: the age of cheap oil is over."
January West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, settled at $66.81 a barrel Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while the national average price for regular gasoline stood at $2.73 a gallon, according to AAA.
As for OPEC, count Campbell Harvey, professor of international business at Duke University's Business School, as one of its doubters. "The power of OPEC is just exaggerated like crazy," he told Newsmax TV.
"It is true that they have low-cost oil production, and they do have substantial reserves, but the world is a completely different place. The U.S. is a much bigger player than it's been in 40 years." U.S. oil production has jumped to its highest level in at least 31 years.
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