Texas Oil Man Warns Higher Energy Prices Will Return (2/2)

"As long as you've got cheap oil - see, that is the thing that has absolutely stunted the country, as far as energy is concerned. You have those run-ups and they look at alternatives and they start to talk about how to solve the problem and then the price goes down and everybody quits talking about it.And you had it in the 1970s and 1980s and the 1990s and 2008. And we are back at the same point right now."

But Pickens, who is a Republican, says he is impressed by President-elect Barack Obama and sees him as a man with a long-range vision of weaning the nation off oil from unstable regions of the world.

The price of oil is about 70% lower than it was 6 months ago. But Pickens says no one should expect that to last. He says oil is likely to trade for $100 a barrel again before the end of next year as the global economic recession ends and demand for energy grows.