STEVE INSKEEP, host: NPR's business news starts with a sign of our times - higher oil prices.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: The record high set yesterday was $122 per barrel. It did slip a little bit overnight. That's the up side of $122 per barrel oil. Makes 121 seem like a bargain. There are some concrete concerns keeping prices so high. They include political tensions in Nigeria and Iran, as well as falling supplies from Russia - three big oil producers.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: But expectations of higher prices may also be creating higher prices. Some energy economists say prices could reach $150 per barrel. That would translate into gas costing more than $4.50 a gallon in the United States. And an even gloomier outlook comes from an analyst at the investment bank Goldman Sachs. He issued a report saying oil could reach $200 per barrel by the end of this year.
Oil prices have come down from the record high set Tuesday, but oil is still trading at more than $120 a barrel. Political tensions in oil-producing nations are a factor, but expectations of higher prices may also contribute to soaring prices. Some economists say prices could hit $150 a barrel — which would make gasoline $4.50 a gallon.