I’ve been thinking a lot about this so I decided to dig online and see what I could find out. A blog that I have visited anonymously a few times, The Oil Drum, had a great post on this topic with tons of data in the thread. But as with anything being debated, there always tends to be ‘data’ that supports both sides.

With so many factors that influence the price of oil, how likely is it that oil prices can be manipulated by any one entity? After reading the commentary and data from the aforementioned thread, I am even more convinced that oil prices can be greatly influenced by one entity, or in this particular case, several entities.

What factors influence the price of oil these days? Demand and supply are two of the most obvious factors.  How possible is it that some of the major oil companies are over-supplying in order to bring down prices? According to some commentators in the Oil Drum thread it has happened in past elections.

As food for thought to encourage a thread on this post, take a look at the comments to the post on the Oil Drum blog: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4453

I’d like to hear from some others on this topic.