http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12400801/

Oil hit over $122 a barrel today. If you don't own stock in an oil company yet, an analyst at Goldman Sachs thinks you should buy.

A new Goldman Sachs prediction that oil prices could rise to $150 to $200 within two years seemed to motivate much of Tuesday’s buying, although a falling dollar and increasing concerns about declining crude production in Mexico and Russia contributed, analysts say.

Oil prices have nearly doubled from about $62 a barrel a year ago, which Goldman sees as a sign that the world is in the midst of a "super spike" in oil prices. Analyst Arjun Murti said in a research note released Monday that prices would ultimately force demand to fall sharply.

Indeed, it’s not the first time Murti has espoused a super spike theory; in an April 2005 note, he predicted the oil market was in the early stages of an unprecedented rally that would send prices from a then-record of about $57 a barrel to $105.

An analyst from Citigroup says crude oil prices could fall to $40 a barrel as easily as they could top $200. Everyone scoffed at Murti's predictions in 2005. Last time I checked, Citigroup was in desperate need of a bail-out and the people at Goldman Sachs were buying Ferraris and Porsches with their bonuses.

MSNBC; May 5, 2008.

Submitted by B. Shapiro