UK’s Former Prime Minister Expects Fuel Prices to Fall

SAN DIEGO — Former British Prime Minister John Major said he expected crude oil prices to fall to $20 a barrel within the next six months.

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In a Nov. 1 speech before members of American Trucking Associations, Major said part of the reason for the current run of fuel price increases was a lack of oil tanker capacity and a logistical problem where “tankers were in the wrong places at the wrong times.”

He said he expects the price decrease because the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is now shipping 1 million barrels per day more than the world is using.

The nations of the world are more interconnected than most realize, Major said. For example, the American presidential election will impact not just the United States but the entire world, he said.

Major then highlighted many of the changes occuring in Europe, and how they affect the world at large. While most celebrated the end of the Cold War and the fall of communism, the changes actually means more wars are likely to happen, Major said, explaining that the war in the former Yugoslavia would have never happened if not for the fall of the Soviet Union.

When asked about oil prices, Major said there is little governments can do to influence production decisions by other countries. “But what governments can do is control taxes,” he said. “As prices rise, taxes could be reduced to stabilize the price. Instability is almost as damaging as the price itself.”