&gt; <i>they&#x27;ll raise it up sky high as the monopoly supplier.</i><p>No, they won&#x27;t. There are still multiple producers, and still lots of reserves, and still lots of shale oil sites waiting to be reopened as soon as the price goes up enough. And don&#x27;t forget, all that &quot;manipulation by OPEC&quot; was actually increased production by the US:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;marketrealist.imgix.net&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2015&#x2F;10&#x2F;US-crude-oil-production.png" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;marketrealist.imgix.net&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2015&#x2F;10&#x2F;US-crude-oil...</a><p>And the production didn&#x27;t really slow down because of the price collapse, it only forced the small players to freeze their operations:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;pbs.twimg.com&#x2F;media&#x2F;B-3swI7UcAAlnEd.png" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;pbs.twimg.com&#x2F;media&#x2F;B-3swI7UcAAlnEd.png</a><p>As is, there&#x27;s a pretty hard limit on how high the price can go.