Long term, the price of oil is capped by the cost of converting coal to diesel. Last I saw, this price is around $70-100 per barrel. Coal to diesel is horribl

Long term, the price of oil is capped by the cost of converting coal to diesel. Last I saw, this price is around $70-100 per barrel. Coal to diesel is horrible for the environment (twice the CO2 emissions of burning regular petroleum), but the unfortunate fact of life is that both China and the US (two biggest energy consumers) have essentially infinite supplies of coal (1000+ years at current production levels). The US will not enact a Carbon tax in the near future because 1/2 of Americans believe stuff that is false (CO2 does not lead to global warming). The only thing preventing large scale coals to liquids development are the huge capital costs involved and the reluctance of banks to take the risk that the price of oil will drop below the magic number ($70 per barrel).