The big oil companies do a fair amount of this I&#x27;m sure, but do you really want to bet a few billion as to exactly how much oil will cost in 2-6 years?<p>The US consumes 20 million barrels a day, so at current prices that&#x27;s $600 million a day at $30&#x2F;bbl and $2 billion a day at $100&#x2F;bbl.  How much do you think you&#x27;d have to buy or sell in the futures market to move the price to smooth it out?<p>Finally, it&#x27;s very, very hard to know what&#x27;s short term volatility and what&#x27;s long term structural.  Everyone &quot;knew&quot; that oil prices were going to be high forever because of peak oil and declining production.  Turns out, maybe not.