Energy Forecast: Oil Prices Poised to Again Test Record Levels in 2011

After starting the year at slightly more than $80 a barrel, oil prices yesterday (Tuesday) rose to their highest level in two years, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude surging as high as $90.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). But that 13% advance is just the beginning. Crude oil prices are poised to again break the psychologically important $100 a barrel mark in a bid to move higher throughout 2011 and 2012, and some forecasters are calling for prices to zoom by as much as 65% from here. If that happens, crude oil would approach - or possibly even eclipse - the all-time high of $147 a barrel, a price not seen since the summertime speculative frenzy of 2008.