June 5 (Bloomberg) -- Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, said the increase in the price of crude oil has ``years to go'' as known sources of petroleum are dwindling.

``I know that unless someone discovers a lot of oil, it can go to $150, $200'' a barrel, Rogers said in a Bloomberg Television interview. ``The facts are the world is running out of known oil reserves.''

Crude oil for July delivery rose $1.62, or 1.3 percent, to $123.92 a barrel at 9:51 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier dropping to $121.61, the lowest since May 15. Futures, which reached a record $135.09 a barrel on May 22, are up 89 percent from a year ago.

Rogers said he bought airline stocks around the world today, saying bankruptcies show the sector may be nearing a bottom. ``Bankruptcies are signs of bottoms, not signs of tops,'' he said

He also said he was shorting Exchange Traded Funds for investment banks, and specifically Citigroup Inc. and the Federal National Mortgage Association, or Fannie Mae.

``I am short all the investment banks,'' Rogers said on the phone from his home in Singapore. ``I know they're all in trouble, most of them have phony accounting.''

Rogers said in addition to airline stocks, he also likes the Swiss franc, Japanese yen and Chinese renminbi.

(Source)⇒Bloomberg