There are parties who feel oil is near it’s high point and within a few decades the sun will set on oil as an energy source. Some people who believe most strongly in alternative energy sources and electric vehicles argue that the future lies outside of oil.

The think tank RethinkX believes the future of transportation lies in electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles. It is their belief that by 2030 the personal automobile industry will lose the vast majority of the market to an industry they call transport-as-a-service (TaaS). RethinkX theorizes that a lower cost of transport will drive consumers en-mass to these TaaS services and this will bring about the end of the auto industry and supporting industries such as auto insurance. The market for gasoline will suffer along with the auto industry driving oil prices down to $25 a barrel.

These predictions are extreme but more conventional forecasters believe factors on the supply side will prevent a rise in oil prices. Advances in technology and oil shale investments reaching maturity will increase supply and keep the price of oil low in the future. Goldman Sachs is pointing to the resilience of shale companies, expanding production even with oil prices having taken a dramatic dive in recent years. Due to these factors and others Goldman has recently predicted oil prices will remain low for years.

So while the price of oil may rise temporarily due to the production cuts originating from the nations of OPEC and Russia many experts believe any rise in the price of oil will only be temporary. It remains to be seen which if any of those scenarios will play out. Only time will tell whether RethinkX is correct and oil prices fall dramatically, if more mainstream predictions will come true and oil prices will remain flat, or the stage has been set for a dramatic rise in oil prices.