I am working on getting out of the oilfield but what we do has to happen no matter what.
During 2012-2014 I know for a fact that investers were manipulating the market price when I was so high.
1. You could rent the absolute biggest tankers for $15,000.00 a day.
2. There were between 5-8 of those things anchored offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
3. The game was once the price hit x. They would unload 2-3 tankers. And the price would drop. They would then purchase the contents of a tanker mid Atlantic and it would start over again. That is why they were able to keep the price so high. Once OPEC got to throwing thier weight around and tried to cripple the US oil production the shale oil actually made some major tech advances and it became cheaper to produce Sweet Crude instead of buying Sour Crude. Offshore and my industry is dieing off.
There is also more aspects to the whole game but those are ones I know of first hand.