Experts Disagree on Why Oil Prices Go Up

Writing for the San Francisco Chronicle,, Kathleen Pender quoted two widely divergent viewpoints on oil prices. Some experts, including a team from Goldman Sachs, point to the increasing world demand, at a time when there is little excess production capacity, as a factor that will keep oil prices in the $50 to $105 per barrel range for years to come. But a separate group of experts says that if it were not for speculators, that oil would still be trading in a $30-40 per barrel range.