Bad News for Oil Consumers

ALAN KOHLER: Well, is $60 a barrel just a spike or are high oil prices here to stay? So far, efforts to rein in praises seem to amount to little more than jaw boning in the face of the insatiable appetite both in China and the west. And for consumers of oil there’s little good news on the horizon. Stephen Long reports.

SPEAKER: The days of cheap oil are behind us now. You just can’t rule out $75 a barrel.

SPEAKER: Taking a five-year view, it’s quite conceivable we’ll see the oil price above $100 a barrel.

STEPHEN LONG: When the price of crude oil spiked above $US60 a barrel this week, investors got nervous. But it might not be too long before prices of this order are just a fond memory because the world is in the grip of a new China syndrome. Factories like this plant in Wung Chan are driving China’s economic boom. But energy output can’t keep pace with demand and blackouts and rationing are a fact of life. Since 2002 the energy problems in southeastern China became more obvious. A serious shortage.

ABC Inside Business (Australia)