Pickens Predicts Record 2007 Oil Price

Oil stocks are signaling that crude prices may rebound to a record in 2007.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil is likely to average $70 a barrel next year, according to Dallas hedge fund manager Boone Pickens. Economist Ed Morse at Lehman Brothers Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. securities firm, predicts $72. Either would top the average price for New York oil futures so far this year, $66.73 a barrel, and set a record.

“I keep thinking we’re right at the bottom on oil,” Pickens, who has correctly predicted rising energy prices for the past three years, said in a Nov. 22 interview. “I don’t see why the run is over if the global economy continues to grow.”

When the prices for oil, fuels and natural gas start to rise may depend on how quickly winter weather spreads across the U.S., Pickens said. So far, warm temperatures have kept demand for heating fuels in check.

Bloomberg