Jeff Rubin, the former CIBC World Markets Inc. chief economist who accurately predicted oil’s surge in the decade just ended, expects crude to reach $90 a barrel this quarter and $100 by the year’s end.
Accelerating demand in Asia and the Middle East will force consumers to rely on costlier non-conventional energy sources such as oil sands, said Rubin, who spent 20 years with the Toronto-based bank and last year published a book on energy economics, “Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller.” Rubin correctly forecast in 2007 that crude would reach $100.
“It’s safe to say that we’ll see triple-digit oil prices by the fourth quarter of this year,” Rubin said in a telephone interview yesterday. “I would expect prices to move pretty close to that level, and be in the $90 range probably by the end of March.”
Crude oil futures rose as high as $83.52 a barrel yesterday, surpassing last year’s peak of $82, after the U.S. Energy Department reported a decline in inventories of distillate fuels like heating oil. In 2008, oil reached an all- time high of $147.27.
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