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The US has come a long way in a short time when it comes to our energy sector, notes Elliott Gue of Energy and Income Advisor.

Gregg Early: I’m here today with Elliott Gue, editor of Energy and Income Advisor. Elliott, oil prices seem to be moving lower, yet there’s a lot of talk that they should be moving higher. What is your view of oil prices, say in the next three months, the next six months, and beyond?

Elliott Gue: Oil prices have been on a rollercoaster ride over the course of the last year or so. We’ve seen a couple of big spikes, often precipitated by geopolitical events such as concerns about some sort of attack on Iran.

Lately, oil prices have been moving a little bit lower. However, I think that’s really more of a temporary dip than anything to be concerned about. I do think oil prices are going to be trading in a rather wide range over the next six to twelve months.

As far as West Texas Intermediate, which is the benchmark grade of crude in the US, I would expect prices not to fall much below the mid–$80s and probably hit highs around $100 to $105. For Brent crude oil, which is the key global benchmark, I would expect oil prices to generally average over $100 a barrel.

Just to give you some idea about what some of the forces at work are, lately the main concern has been on the demand side. Out of the US, we’ve had a series of weaker than expected economic data. In particular, we’ve seen the employment data be very, very disappointing. Initial jobless claims have come off their lows, meaning that more people are filing for first–time unemployment benefits. We’ve also seen some weakness in manufacturing data, such as the durable goods orders in September. It’s really a concern about the US economy.

More broadly, we’re also seeing obvious concerns about global demand for oil and global economic growth. Europe is in a recession. Even though the European Central Bank is willing to intervene in bond markets there, that doesn’t really change the real economic situation in the short term.

Looking into Asia and to emerging markets, clearly the Chinese economy has slowed down. The Chinese government’s now taking steps to simulate growth there, but clearly Chinese growth has slowed down.

I think that’s what’s really causing these current minor bouts of downside in oil prices, and I think that’s really the concern about oil that some people are expressing.

However, I think it’s very important to keep an eye on supply as well. The reality is that outside of OPEC, most countries—with the exception of the United States—are seeing declining production and a lot of project delays and production shortfalls this year. Supplies are actually quite tight globally.

Looking a little further into the future on the demand side, the Chinese government is pretty aggressively cutting interest rates, cutting bank reserve requirements…and I actually think Chinese demand is going to come roaring back as we enter 2013.

I see a floor being put under oil prices due to concerns about very tight supply that’s out there and sort of a feeling due to concerns that as oil prices rise, that could actually negatively affect what looks like already pretty weak global economic growth.