July 7 (Bloomberg) -- T. Boone Pickens, founder and chairman of Dallas-based BP Capital LLC, said oil prices will match last year’s record $147 a barrel in three years as producers fail to increase output.
“We’ll be flat at 85 million barrels a year,” Pickens said in an interview. “By 2013 we’re going to see a decline in production. In 10 years we’ll be at $300 a barrel.”
Pickens, 81, one year ago started a $60 million promotion for a national energy plan that relies on domestically produced natural gas to cut U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Without a switch to gas, the U.S. will be spending $2 trillion a year importing oil, he said.
“The problem is we don’t have the oil,” Pickens said. “And we’ve got gas coming out our ears.”
Crude oil futures for August delivery today fell $1.12, or 1.7 percent, to $62.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price has gained 41 percent this year.
Oil is not going to get any less expensive relative to natural gas, Pickens said. He said gas needs no refining and emits 50 percent less pollution than gasoline.
His plan has received some support in Congress, said Graham Mattison, an analyst at Lazard Capital Markets in New York.
“Political support for the natural gas vehicle industry continues to build,” Mattison said. A House bill would double some natural-gas vehicle tax credits and double the amount stations would get to install pumps for the fuel, he said. The Senate may consider similar legislation tomorrow, he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Martin in New York at cmartin11@bloomberg.net.
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