It’s “an empire ending problem,” says Robert Zubrin. He’s referring to the outflow of capital from the United States of America to the oil exporting countries. OPEC now takes in more cash than the U.S. government.

When Goldman Sachs energy strategist Argun Murti made his oil price prediction that the black goo would “super-spike” past $200 in six months to two years’ time, how aware was he of the affects this prediction would have on the price of oil?

Murti’s price prediction seems to have been one of the main drivers behind oil’s climb yesterday, with the AP news wire carrying the headline: “Oil prices rise to record near $123 a barrel on prediction of $200 oil, supply concerns.”

OPEC President Chakib Khelil said he can see crude oil prices reaching $200 a barrel because the market is driven by the the US dollar’s slide, according to Algerian government newspaper El Moudjahid.

According to the paper: “Questioned about a possible rise which would go to $200, the minister did not rule out this eventuality, explaining that this rise is indexed from now on to the fall in the dollar or to the rise in the dollar.”

Peak Oil expert Byron King was ahead of the curve on the role of the dollar in pushing up oil prices.

With crude oil prices climbing above $117 a barrel investors are looking for oil price predictions and gas price predictions that may give them clues about oil’s trajectory.

Marc Faber, author of the Gloom Boom & Doom Report, argues that a slowdown in the Chinese economy could put downward on oil prices.

“Let us assume that the unthinkable happens,” says Marc in The Daily Reckoning. “China’s economy slows down sharply, or even contracts – and there are reasons why it could.