Boone Pickens: One word - Up.

Boone Pickens was interviewed on CNBC last week on his favorite topic, oil.

CNBC: Pickens' Predictions.

Q: Where are oil prices headed from here?

A: "Up. We could still back off a little bit, but it's trend is up, and we'll be back up in the mid 70's pretty quick."

Q: Where will be around the end of the year, still $70s?

A: "You know last year, I believe we backed off right at the end of the year and then picked up again. The trend is always up, because we're dealing with a limited supply of oil, which I think is 85 million barrels a day, and that's it, I don't think we can get any more out of the system, I'm talking about globally. And when I see the fourth quarter projected for 86.5 million barrels a day, it's gonna get tight."

Q: Will high prices solve high prices? Will we ever hit that point and get back down?

A: "You don't want it back down."

Q: Will demand eventually slow down due to high prices?

A: "Absolutely you will. That's the way you win the game, is that the price gets up high enough that it chokes you, and you start conserving, and you'll cut back on usage, and then you've solved the problem; you start to live with a changing energy picture forever after."

Q: You think that gasoline prices are too low in the US, that they should be higher?

A: "Gasoline prices around the world are a good $5 to $6, and so why are we here at $3? We're here because we haven't taxed our gasoline so much. But oil is the same, pretty well the same, Brent/North Sea, WTI, are basically the same product. Gasoline is different, there should be a global price for gasoline."

Q: What do you say to people who say you are talking your own positions up?

A: "I even had a Congressman come to see me, and said I was doing just that. I said I'm not. I said the fundamentals are the fundamentals, it doesn't have anything to do with my book. I don't think anybody can talk the market up for more than 2 minutes, that's it."