steve forbes oil $35 a barrel next yr

Oil to drop to $US35 next year: Forbes
13:22 AEST Tue Aug 30 2005
AAP
AP - American publishing executive Steve Forbes says he expects the price of oil to fall as low as $US35 a barrel within a year, blaming the current price spike largely on speculation.

Forbes, in Sydney for a conference of global business leaders sponsored by his organisation, said US inflation was helping fuel the rise "and the rest of it is a sheer bubble of speculation".

"I think in 12 months we are going to see oil down to $US35, $US40 a barrel," he said.

As Hurricane Katrina lashed the US Gulf Coast, oil hit $US70.80 a barrel before retreating.

"It is a huge bubble, I don't know what's going to pop, but eventually it will pop," Forbes said of the oil price.