Future Gas Prices
My patience is wearing thin. Yesterday, to some fanfare, the EIA released a bullish forecast predicting big demand for fossil fuels. Something seemed fishy, but I couldn't put my finger on it until I saw the brand-new -- just revised -- projections of future gasoline prices:
No, honestly, this is the US government's official projection -- aka "the reference case" -- for gasoline prices, shown here in 2006 dollars. In fact, it's so official that it comes under this banner: "The tables presented here summarizes [sic] the revised early release version of the AEO2008 reference case and replaces the early release version that was initially posted in December 2007."
But as anyone not living under a rock is aware, the average retail price of gasoline is currently above $4 per gallon (it's $4.13 nationally, to be precise). This leads me to one of two conclusions. Either a) the poor researchers at the Department of Energy actually do live under a rock; or b) the EIA is doing what can only be described as "a heckuva job."
