Pickens sees oil prices going higher

Oil tycoon Boone Pickens’ bet that energy prices would rise made him more money in the past five years than he earned in the preceding half century hunting for riches in petroleum deposits and companies.

And even as crude futures have doubled since 2000 to almost $60 a barrel, the 77-year-old Texan sees no reason to take his chips off the table. “I can’t tell for sure where we’re going, other than up,” Pickens said in an interview with The Associated Press.

His outlook stems from the belief that a world oil production peak is near and that, while the world won’t soon run out, supplies will remain tight due to rising consumption and geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East.

The high prices haven’t yet taken the wind out of the U.S. economy, he said, because of efficiency gains made over the past 25 years.

Down the road, however, he anticipates more serious pain at the pump until, eventually, fossil fuel consumption tapers off and alternatives become more popular.

—Brad Foss, Associated Press