Monday on CNBC, energy advisor to government and industry Robert Hirsch, predicted $12-15/gallon gasoline followed by rationing: (video here)

"There's no single thing that's going to solve this problem because it's as massive as one can possibly imagine. And the prices that we're paying at the pump today I think are going to be the good old days because others who watch this very closely forecast that we are going to be hitting $12 and $15 per gallon. And then, after that, when world oil production goes into decline, we're going to talk about rationing. In other words, not only are we going to be paying high prices and have considerable economic problems, in addition to that, we're not going to be able to get the fuel when we want it."

Then T Boone Pickens weighed in: (video here)

"... 85 million a day is all the world can produce and the demand is at 87 million and it's that simple. It doesn't have anything to do with the value of the dollar, it's just the fact of supply and demand. ... The Russians are starting to decline now, the Saudis are claiming they have more oil - they don't. The President wasted his time to go to Saudi Arabia and say give us more oil. They can't give any more oil, they're giving all they have now. ... And not one of the politicians running for president has anything to say about it. I don't know whether they don't know it, or don't want to mention it. ... Only one fuel can compete - it's natural gas. No others can do it. You talk about ethanol, it's a joke."

Pickens claims we have plenty of natural gas (which runs counter to everything I've heard) and can reduce oil imports by 40%. He's also building the largest US wind farm to provide energy so NGas can be used for transportation instead of electrical power generation. Also recommends solar. He predicts $150 barrel this year.

"We're crippled as far as energy is concerned and we've allowed this to happen, and the reason is a lack of leadership."

When asked if the prices were due to speculators, new people in the oil markets, Pickens responded:

"That doesn't have anything to do with it. 85 million barrels is all they have and the world is using more than that."