The price per barrel of oil went up slightly on Wednesday.
Glenn's radio co-hosts, Pat Gray and Stu Burguiere, commented on the implications during Glenn's radio program, as Glenn continued his travels throughout the Middle East and Europe.
Prices went up a bit from about $40 per barrel --- the lowest price since 2009.
"These extreme prices in oil are not necessarily good," Pat said. "I mean, I know $20 a barrel sounds really good because that's half of what it costs right now."
Listen to the full segment or read the transcript below.
Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.
PAT: The price per barrel of oil went up a little bit.
STU: Yeah, it was very low. I think it was the lowest since 2009 just the other day.
PAT: Right around 40 bucks a barrel.
STU: And it's up a little today because now the stockpiles -- they expected an increase of I think two or 3 million barrels, and they got a decrease of 2 million barrels. Something like that. So it's kind of shocking, I guess, to the market. But how it relates to actual -- your life, you know, gas prices have obviously been pretty low recently. And there's so much disagreement on what's going to happen next with oil prices in that there are a lot of people saying it could go down as low as $20 a barrel which is basically half price of what you're paying now. And then there are several experts, one of which I saw specifically mentioned, within the next two years, they expect oil to hit $150 a barrel. Now, I don't know if that means, that you just tune it out and don't care because -- the predictions are so all over the board. But think about what this means for the Middle East. We talk about the Middle East all the time and ISIS and how these things develop.
Saudi Arabia is expected to run a 20 percent deficit for their budget this year.
PAT: Really?
STU: 20 percent. That's a lot of money to be in deficit.
PAT: Yeah.
STU: They are even projecting their first deficit. They don't say it's as big. But they're projecting a deficit as well. They're forced now to borrow money. They can't balance their budget. Venezuela, we talked about yesterday, is in serious trouble because they don't -- their production has been dropping for a long time. They don't make -- you know, they subsidize the oil prices, anyway, gas prices in their own country. A lot of that gets sold in the black market to Columbia. It's a bizarre situation. But they're falling apart. A lot of these countries that were already unstable are really getting beaten up by this. And you can argue in some ways it's a good thing. I don't want Russia to necessarily have a lot of money.
PAT: No.
STU: But instability shakes into a lot of bad things.
PAT: Yeah, and these extreme prices in oil are not necessarily good. I mean, I know $20 a barrel sounds really good because that's half of what it costs right now. And so then you think, well, okay, if that translates at the pump, which it doesn't always do, but if it did, that's another 50 percent reduction in the cost at the gas pump, which would be tremendous. It's like $1.75 a gallon here in Texas right now, at least in the Dallas metroplex.
STU: Can you imagine spending under a dollar for gas again?
PAT: I can't imagine it.
STU: You can't imagine it. There are some people that are saying it's possible.
PAT: I can't imagine it. And I can't imagine American oil companies being able to function in that way. I mean, not for very long. A lot of them are going out of business or laying off people, and that's not good for the economy. Conversely though, 150 a gallon would be horrific too. I mean, that's just catastrophic for the economy and for people. So I kind of want somewhere in between.
STU: Look at you.
PAT: I know.
STU: You're just --
PAT: I know. Mr. Let's Have Something, You Know, Moderate Happen Here.
STU: You are a moderate. That's Pat Gray. When I think of Pat Gray, I think moderate.
(laughter)
You just --
PAT: Yeah. I scream moderation.
STU: I never know how you feel about things.
PAT: I know. Because I'm too, well, moderate.
STU: It's too hot, too cold, just right.
PAT: Just right.
STU: Just right for Pat Gray.
PAT: Right.
STU: But I don't know. It's going to be interesting to see what happens with it because that used to be the thing that drove every election result. What are our gas prices right now? That used to be the only thing they talked about in the media, what gas prices were. Well, they got really high with Obama, and they stopped that. And they haven't really gone back to it now.
PAT: Well, not until there's a Republican in office, then they'll go back to it.
STU: Yeah, because if it does hit $150 a barrel in 2017, guess who will get blamed for it if there's a Republican president?
PAT: The Republican. The Republican president.
STU: Oh, yeah. Uh-huh.
PAT: Ted Cruz. He'll be blamed.
STU: But he hasn't actually won the nomination yet or the election.
PAT: But he's going to. But that will happen. That's a foregone conclusion.
STU: It is?
PAT: Yeah.
Featured Image: Customers get gasoline at a Chevron station on October 30, 2015 in Corte Madera, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)