Reply #5: Soaring oil prices a thing of the past? [View All]

[ozymandius]

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Oil prices tumbled again Wednesday, and industry experts say $70-a-barrel oil is going the way of warm days and green leaves as crude stocks swell and Gulf refineries start to recover in earnest from last month's devastating storms.

But the experts cautioned that a return to cheap oil -- or even $40 a barrel oil -- is unlikely any time soon.

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"The market has been kind of playing Russian roulette with the weather," said Mike Fitzpatrick vice president of energy risk management at Fimat U.S.A. in New York. "If the weather stays mild and continues to cooperate, $55 to $56 a barrel is probably reasonable."

Many in the industry put oil's target price over the next three months at somewhere in the mid $50s to mid $60s, but most also said underlying fundamentals such as strong worldwide demand are unlikely to let prices slip too much further.

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http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/19/markets/eia_oil/index.htm