Oil Will Never Return To 100 Dollars- Saudi Prince

The days of $100 oil prices may be gone forever.
At least that's what Saudi Prince Alwaleed believes about
oil, which plunged below $46 a barrel on Monday for the
first time since March 2009.
The well-known billionaire investor recently told USA
Today he's positive we're "never" going to see $100-a-
barrel oil prices again.
"There's less demand, and there's oversupply. And both
are recipes for a crash in oil. And that's what happened.
It's a no-brainer," Alwaleed told the paper.
The comments from the prince mirror ones by Ali al-
Naimi, the Saudi oil minister who said $100 oil may be a
thing of the past in December.
Cheap gas here to stay? If those predictions are accurate,
it could also mean gas in the U.S. might not go above $3
again. Thanks to the oil meltdown, the national average
price of gas has plunged to $2.13, compared with $3.31
a year ago, according to AAA.
Back in 2008, oil broke through the $100 level for the first
time, leading some to predict prices would spike to $200
due to surging demand from China and India. Then oil
plummeted to $34 during the Great Recession before
rebounding sharply.
Crude bounced between $90 and $110 over the past three
years, trading above $100 as recently as late July. But
that's when prices collapsed under the weight of a supply
glut caused by North American production, including U.S.
shale companies that need higher prices to be profitable.
Related: Big Oil loses $200B from oil crash
Shale is feeling the pain: Alwaleed said one "positive side
effect" of the oil crash is it will allow Saudi Arabia to see
"how many shale oil production companies run out of
business."
Already, U.S. energy companies have dialed back their
spending plans, cut dividends and laid off workers.
Analysts believe some shale companies won't survive the
drop in prices.
Now there are signs shale companies are cutting back on
drilling. During the first week of 2015, oil companies
reduced horizontal drilling for oil for the first time in the
Bakken, Eagle Ford and Permian shale plays, according to
Rystad Energy.
"'Rigs that count' have been resilient until now, but now
these rigs are also being idled," said Per Magnus
Nysveen, head of analysis at Rystad.
Now what? Investors continue to guess where oil is going
next. After showing signs of stabilization last week, oil
tumbled another 4% on Monday to $45.90. Some oil
watchers believe prices could plunge as low as $30 due
to oversupply and sluggish demand.
Goldman Sachs said on Monday oil may need to trade
near $40 a barrel for most of the first half of 2015. That
would keep capital on the sidelines and slow down supply
growth to rebalance the global oil market, the bank said.
Once oil finds a bottom, Moody's senior economist Chris
Lafakis thinks the black stuff could surge all the way
back to $80 by the end of the year.
Alwaleed concedes a rebound may happen eventually. He
just doesn't think it'll carry oil all the way back to $100.