T. Boone Pickens has gained a lot of clout lately. Let’s put aside for a moment the fact that he is one scary guy, and might become one of the people responsible for putting us into a very frightening situation with our water supply. He’s also known as being a billionaire oil tycoon and recently purchased a huge number of wind turbines. When he predicted that oil would hit $100 a barrel, investors laughed because it seemed so improbable – and then it happened. That’s why they’re now listening up to everything this guy has to say.
From Forbes:
Wall Street decided to treat T. Boone Pickens as the smartest guy in the room.
Light sweet crude prices soared 1.5%, or $1.88, to $128.93 a barrel, after the billionaire oilman said he expects it’ll hit $150 a barrel this year.
“There’s a feeling that some of these forecasts of $150 oil might be right, so why not buy it now rather than later,” Peter Beutel, president of Cameron Hanover, told Reuters.
Pickens gave more than a number though. According to TradeTheNews.com, Pickens also said that speculators have nothing to do with high energy prices, and that oil costs are not a bubble. He that he is investing long on natural gas. This kind of support from a name that holds such credibility gave other investors a renewed sense of confidence in how they played the commodity.
Pickens is positioning himself as an energy expert, and a powerful one at that (cue ‘impending doom’ music). While we’re glad that he has made some good choices in renewable energy, this guy doesn’t have the scruples to be trustworthy – it’s all about the money for him, so if he sees big bucks in an industry that could still harm the planet, he’ll likely jump on it. We’re crossing our fingers that he sticks to renewable energy and drops the creepy water privatization plans.
Link [Forbes]
Photo credit: Flickr user sfslim
