I don't know specifics but i know that an oil futures trader does not have to put up anywhere NEAR the amount of money, compared to the monetary value of oil he's trading.

So if they're playing with 100,000 dollars of oil, they may only be putting up 10,000 of their own money, to control 100K of oil.

I read this on a CNN article somewhere, and this is the reason for the EASE of oil getting so high so quickly.