Jim Rogers: Oil To Rise; Nuclear Energy Will Come Back

Japan's nuclear disaster is going to increase demand for natural gas and oil for a while and oil prices will rise but the world cannot do without nuclear energy yet, investor Jim Rogers told CNBC Wednesday.
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However, uranium and nuclear power stocks are likely to be good buys only in two or three years, when things calm down, Rogers, who together with George Soros co-funded the Quantum Fund, said in an interview.
"Unless we find something to replace oil and coal, we have to have nuclear… whether we like it or not," he said.
Rogers, whose portfolio is mainly in commodities and currencies, said oil prices will rise.
"The price of oil is going to go much higher over the next decade", the Chairman of Rogers Holdings said in an interview.
Rogers bought the Japanese stock index and some stocks following the disastrous earthquake and tsunami that hit the country earlier this month.
"It's going to cause slowdown in the Japanese economy… eventually though they are going to have to rebuild and they will rebuild," he said.
"I don't think Japan is going to fall off the face of the earth and I own Japan," he added.
The Japanese investors are going to have to bring their money home and are likely to sell US government bonds, said Rogers, who also owns the yen [JPY=X 82.88    0.41  (+0.5%)   ].
"I'm not selling anything. I'm waiting to sell short US government bonds."
Rogers is buying the Chinese yuan — which is virtually out of the reach of foreign investors because of capital controls imposed by the government — whenever he can find ways to buy it but he is not currently buying Chinese stocks.
"I only like to buy China when it collapses and it hasn't collapsed in nearly two years," he said. "My children are going to own my Chinese shares. I'm not planning to sell my Chinese shares ever."
Currencies are being "debased" all over the world, Rogers said.
"I actually bought some silver [XAG=  37.41    0.34  (+0.92%)   ] and gold [XAU= 1423.30    7.35  (+0.52%)   ] last week, not a lot but some," he said.
"Paper money is being debased all over the world… the world's got a lot more inflation, a lot more currency debasement, don't sell your silver," Rogers added.