What you're really asking is if there is anything like infinite petroleum. The answer is no. 101$ will be reached, and the 1980 figure will be topped.

Mostly, yes. Oil is an input to near everything and, so, inflation tends to go toghether with its price.
today
As I see, two factors can change real oil prices:
1 - A recession, where people stop buying lots of goods and concentrate their spending on oil. That would make oil prices go up.
2 - Food inflation, where people stop buying other goods to concentrate their spending on food. That would make oil prices to go down.

And 2 seems to be dominating 1 by now.

But forget about all that. Current oil prices are due to the weak Dollar (and a weak Dollar is partialy due to peak oil, but that is another topic). Have I said that gasoline prices are falling as a rock at Brazil?

And remember that the universe is expanding, which means that a barrel of oil today is actually larger than a barrel of oil from 1980.

I was thinking the exact same thing, that a couple of years ago they were saying that in inflation adjusted dollars the all time high was about $80/barrel. What gives?

Waitasecondhere:

In 2005 the "Inflation adjusted" [edit]peak[/edit] price of crude was $80/barrel, and in 2007 it's $101/barrel? Does this mean the MSM is claiming a 12% annual inflation rate for the past 2 years?!

Funny, I heard on Jim Lehrer yesterday that the inflation-adjusted number was $90.

The Energy Outlook blog has an interesting post about this:

Nearing the Old High?

The highest posted price for WTI during the first energy crisis was $39.50/barrel from April-July 1980. ... Applying the ratio of GDP deflators to the posted price yields $87.92 in 1Q2007 dollars. If we assume that actual transactions in the peak month of 1980 were probably done at P-plus $1.00--about as much as the market would take before competitive forces pushed the postings up--then we get to $90.14. But that's still a wellhead price, so we'd need to add something for gathering, handling and transportation to arrive at a figure that equates to NYMEX WTI at Cushing, OK. Call it a buck, and we're at $91 and change.

If I've done my sums properly, we're closer to the all-time high oil price than some analysts are suggesting. The puzzle, of course, is how prices can be this high for this long without putting the economy into a deep recession, such as we saw in the previous energy crisis. Part of the answer is found by translating that July 1980 oil price based on its relative share of the 1980s GDP, compared to today's, rather than using the deflator. On that basis, oil at $80 still has a long way to go to match its equivalent of $187/barrel in 1980.

I'm also thinking like that.
If there is plenty of juice and the price is high, it will cause the regular Joe to modify his habits regarding his/her use.

But if there are ongoing and worsening shortages, that is a different kettle of fish.
First instincts will be to buy as much as possible when its available and hoard, which will of course exacerbate the situation.

It hasnt been as bad for us in the developed world where we can simply pay up and go about our daily business. THe third world is taking it on the chin as oil just gets too expensive to afford anymore and more do without.

Thanks guys for freeing up the black stuff for us up here. My big honkin' H2 thanks you sincerely!

Seriously, at this point demand destruction is working. Not equitable but effective. Look for it to start occuring in greater amounts in our own under class and more fossil fuel aware contingents. Me personally, I've only purchased 36 gallons of gas this year, mostly by getting myself situated where biking and walking makes a bunch of sense.

"...our economy hasn't collapsed."

If you say so...

But the market is very good at preventing shortages. It prevents them by increasing the price.

Fuel shortages come as a result of dramatic events like acts of terrorism, natural disasters, wars or boycotts. Depletion will not by itself cause shortages.

Just because the first tripling of the price of oil didn't cripple our economy does not mean the next tripling won't do it.

Local stories ... that's true for sure. North Dakota has a diesel issue and in the Northern Marianas they are having problems with keeping the power on because of the high price of oil. The reason for that,I guess, is that the Commonwealth wants to do some sort of price control thing and it's causing the utility some concern.

Elsewhere, I don't know. Most places in the developing world really subsidize their fuel so the citizenry are somewhat insulated (until the the price controls come off and the riots start).

Some countries have to buy at spot prices too, since they have no capacity to store fuel, so that's got to hurt their budgets.

I'm actually quite surprised at how little disruption this is causing ... load shedding seems to grab the headlines though.