Ryanair CEO predicts $100 oil

The CEO of Ryanair Holdings has a future as a fortune-teller if he's right on this one:

Michael O’Leary told reporters today in Frankfurt that he expects the price of oil to dip below $100 a barrel by the end of next year after reaching a “short- term” high of $150 a barrel, Bloomberg News reported.

Crude oil prices may decline to the lower figure in 12 to 18 months, O’Leary said, according to Bloomberg.

The Dublin-based airline, Europe’s biggest low-cost carrier, has struggled in recent months as record oil profits eat into earnings, Bloomberg notes. Ryanair is largely un-hedged for fuel-price increases in the current fiscal year through March 2009. Oil is trading at about $133 a barrel, almost double the price last year.

O’Leary declined to buy hedging agreements for fuel in February, when oil was at about $90 a barrel, saying he expected the price to fall below $80, Bloomberg said. The carrier said last month that it won’t hedge until prices fall to below $100.

-- Scott Nishimura