What happens with oil prices actually has very little to do with actual supply and demand. Since 2000 when Clinton signed the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (Gramm and Luger sponsored), the market has been driven by speculation. Prior to 2000, commodity trading was regulated.
After passage of the bill, traders had an officially deregulated market for energy futures. Worse, that bill also deregulated many financial instruments – including the collateralized debt obligations that are at the center of today’s mortgage crisis.
Here's a great summary:
http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.ne...peculation.HTM