Barrel of Oil $100+ ?

Gasoline: $5 a gallon

A favored headline scare tactic of financial news reporters. The article reads that if the price of a barrel of oil continues to increase at the current rate, in only a few weeks the price at the pump will be 5 bucks. Surely the current price trend will continue with speculators adding a dollar or two per day to the price of a barrel on the NY Comex spot market. They continue that if the rate of price increase continues, it means you will pay $3 then $4 then $5 per gallon. And of course this could spark a double dip recession, higher unemployment, and thin new car sales.

Their story is true

Every current driver remembers every detail of the story. They experienced the problem in July 2008 with $145 per barrel the high for oil on the spot market. They remember how to consolidate shopping trips, minimized vacation miles, car pool and refused the temptation of mini-mart snacks. In October 2008 a surplus of supply sent the price down to $77 per barrel, but in the mean time speculation on the oil markets and mortgage market initiated a great recession.

The question then becomes, will it happen again? Will price move in a straight line up to $145. Will OPEC quickly add to the supply of oil and prevent another skyrocketing increase at the pump? We do know for sure that OPEC does not favor selling fewer barrels of oil.

I thought I would take a look at the chart for the date OPEC's first official meeting, Sept. 14,1960 9:00 am GMT in Bagdad.

In July 2008 OPEC had T. Uranus opposed its Sun and Saturn conjunct its Pluto but in October T. Jupiter made a square to Venus then a trine to its Sun. Jupiter sees to increase the supply of oil. These aspects will not repeat.

The January 4, 2011 eclipse falls on OPEC's second house Saturn. It means they will negotiate every deal and allow the buyer only a minimum profit. They will systematically account for all of their assets and try to be thrifty with the distribution of oil. An eclipse is in effect for at least 6 months and during this time T. Saturn will make a conjunction twice to OPEC's Venus. On Nov. 27 during Saturn's 1st conjunction to Venus prices moved from $83-$87. Then Jupiter took over with a square to itself and prices moved from $87-$91. This will happen again March 30 and Aug 22.

Conclusion

It seems Saturn slows the pace of increased prices for OPEC. Jupiter increases supplies of oil suggesting that the price per gallon will move up slowly during the next six months. Ingenuity is required if we are to avoid spending extra income on transportation.

Consider these next few months an opportunity to reorganize how you spend your travel time and hopefully natural gas or electricity will become your fuel of choice. T. Pluto opposed OPEC's Moon (Jan. 30-May 5, Dec 3- Jan 30, 2012 and May 11-Oct 25) will probably inspire everyone to make the changes required.