Oil More Likely to Rise to $200 Than Drop to $50, Simmons Says

Crude oil is more likely to rise to $200 a barrel than drop to $50 in the next six months because supply isn't meeting demand, said Matt Simmons, a former energy adviser to President George W. Bush.

``We have unbelievable tight supply,'' Simmons, chief executive officer of Simmons & Co., a Houston-based consulting company, said today in a Bloomberg Television interview. ``We have a lot of gasoline stations closing because they cannot afford to be in business.''

Crude oil for August delivery fell $1.54, or 1.1 percent, to $137.20 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:57 p.m. London time.

Futures reached a record $147.27 a barrel on July 11 and have risen 87 percent in the past year.