There's a one-in-three chance that oil prices will hit $150 per barrel by the first quarter of next year, according to energy magnate T. Boone Pickens.
Mr. Pickens, in town Wednesday for the Developing Unconventional Gas (DUG) East conference, said the United States cannot expect to survive solely on costly crude when the country imports almost two-thirds of the oil that it uses.
Enter his salvation: shale gas.
Mr. Pickens made his fortune on oil but for the past three years he has dedicated his time to promoting his Pickens Plan, an initiative aimed at weaning America off foreign oil and onto domestic sources of energy like the natural gas found in the Marcellus Shale formation that lies underneath Appalachia.
The Pickens Plan has made its namesake a bit of a demigod in the shale gas world, and Mr. Pickens was received with a partial standing ovation at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
Flanked by five American flags on each side, he even speculated that shale gas reserves had been placed in the United States by divine guidance. The arrival of accessible natural gas within U.S. borders is "so timely" as Americans wake up to the impossibility of relying on foreign oil forever, he said.
"The saddest part is I'm 83 years old," he said. "I may not be able to see it all."
He had tough words for Washington lawmakers, who he said don't fully grasp the importance of ending the stranglehold of power held by oil-rich countries in the Middle East.
The world's second-largest exporter of oil, Saudi Arabia, is run by the elderly, overweight, diabetic King Abdullah, and yet hardly anyone asks what will happen when he dies, said Mr. Pickens.
Closer to home, his pick for president is GOP contender and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who has endorsed the Pickens Plan as an energy policy yet currently polls around 1 percent.
Meanwhile, Mr. Pickens assailed the Obama administration for postponing a decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline until after the 2012 election. The Keystone XL was slated to transport oil from Canada to southern parts of the United States, but its path through ecologically sensitive areas of the Midwest raised concerns.
By postponing development of the pipeline until 2013, the administration has opened up the opportunity for private contractors to build a pipeline that directs oil westward from Alberta and into foreign markets like China, he said.
The DUG East schedule Wednesday also featured Consol Energy President Nick DeIuliis, who said his Cecil-based company has already hired 1,300 new employees this year as fossil fuel development in the region ramps up.
First Published: November 17, 2011, 5:00 a.m.
