It is ironic that all of this Oil Speculation stuff has subsided since oil is down (of course the prices weren't speculated down...right?) Everyone used the Congressional scapegoat of those evil futures traders "driving the price up" when they really did not know what speculation was/is.
Right now is the time for speculation... the market awaits liquidity while spots for futures are turning some cash... in other words some traders are, indeed, hoarding huge amounts of oil...EIA estimates that domestic oil inventories have risen about 9%.... when liquidity hits the market (if it does)... oil will go back up... a question will be when and how fast the government induced liquidity is added.... my very amateur opinion is that oil will be around $70-75 average next year... but time will tell.