Oil Insiders Believe Things Could Get Better

Energy experts were in Tulsa on Thursday to talk about what the second half of this year will hold for the oil and gas industries. The News On 6's Chris Wright reports even with all the doom and gloom you hear about energy prices these days, industry insiders believe there is a chance things could get a little better in the coming months.

After months of escalating gas and energy prices, and with seemingly no end in sight, it's been a while since we've heard someone say this.

"I see reasons for one, prices not to go up, and reasons that may fall into place at some point that will bring prices down," said Bob Tippee.

As editor in chief of the Oil and Gas Journal, Bob Tippee has made a career of forecasting energy trends. He presented his predictions for the rest of 2008 to the Energy Advocates, a national organization based in Tulsa and Washington D.C. The group says its mission is to educate the public about all forms of energy.

"Very important that we debate and talk about these issues, and come up with solutions, and we believe we can do that," said Mark Stansberry of Energy Advocates.

What Tippee believes may encourage weary consumers. He says energy demand in America will continue to drop in 2008. He contends that we will also benefit from increased production by OPEC countries and if the dollar rebounds, things could get even better.

"So we're seeing in the fundamentals of the market, we're seeing reasons for demand to come down, and the beginnings of a demand slowdown," said Tippee.     

Of course, given the volatility of the energy industry, Tippee admits that whether or not any of these predictions come true is anyone's guess.

"We're real good about explaining why prices moved yesterday. We're not so good at saying what they'll do tomorrow," said Tippee.

Tippee would not offer any predictions on exactly what a barrel of oil or gallon of gas will cost at the end of the year. He says predicting prices is simply too difficult.