The conflicts going on around the world will lead to increases in gas prices in the United States, says economist and financial expert Steve Beaman.

"With so much instability in the Mideast, with the junk going on in the Ukraine right now and the instability that brings in, with the growth in China and the Far East and its take, you're looking at a reasonable $4-a-gallon for the foreseeable future," Beaman told Ed Berliner on "MidPoint" on Newsmax TV on Monday.

"When you have increased fear and uncertainty in the marketplaces, prices will rise," he explained. "But on the other side that's true too, and prices will come down as people see more sustainability and security within those markets."

Beaman explains that one of the factors that has caused gas prices to go up recently "is the demand from China for fuel product. So, as Chinese demand grows, if global demand doesn't keep up at the same rate, you'll see prices continue to rise."

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Russia recently cut Ukraine off from its flow of natural gas from Gazprom over a price dispute.

"The United States is a relatively small trading partner with Russia, so this doesn't in a tactical sense affect the U.S. economy all that much, but in a general worldwide sense, it creates more instability, which causes prices generally to go up,"

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