PHOENIX — When billionaire oilman and investor T. Boone Pickens launched his plan this past summer to boost the use of wind and natural gas to ease American dependence on foreign oil, gasoline prices were at a record $4.11 a gallon and oil prices were at $147 a barrel.
Now, oil prices are at a 20-month low, falling to $59.33 a barrel Tuesday, and gasoline prices have plummeted to below $2 a gallon in many parts of the country.
“I think I’ve done a pretty good job,” he said, generating a laugh at the annual Edison Electric Institute convention of U.S. power executives.
Now with oil prices down, Pickens has said he has reduced what he planned to spend on his campaign — trimming spending to $40 million to $50 million from his initial plan of about $60 million.
He also said the collapse in natural- gas prices has forced him to put his wind-farm project for Texas on hold.
Pickens has leased hundreds of thousands of acres for a giant wind farm in west Texas, where he plans to erect 2,700 turbines and produce energy for urban areas such as Dallas and Fort Worth.
Historically, there is much less talk about turning to renewables when energy prices get low.
But Pickens said not to worry, oil prices will be heading back up, and soon. “I don’t see any lower than it is today,” he said.
He said oil will be back to $100 a barrel within a year and that all other commodities will jump back up as well — making his plan more viable.
