I don't know about the Californian energy crisis, but maybe this is an example of a situation where the players are in alignment. Spikes in oil prices can be c

I don't know about the Californian energy crisis, but maybe this is an example of a situation where the players are in alignment. Spikes in oil prices can be caused by panic in an industry. For example, if I ran an airliner maybe I'd seek to lock in fuel prices via forward trades. There's a risk I'd pay a high premium for the period, but I'd judge that as being bettter than the risk that I'd go out of business. And spikes can be caused by speculators. But my point was that in liquid markets things will revert to a mean that is backed by whatever the real demand is. Pushing prices up by buying and holding oil is not in itself a business model.