As in 2008/9 the upper hand is only temporary, because the Saudis and others will - once the price collapses - cut oil production as they did in 2008, and the price will be ramped up again as it was before in 2009.

Rinse and repeat.

The oil market is terminally dysfunctional because it is run by and in the interests of intermediaries operating with an aim to maximise profit.

Consumers have an interest in stable low prices: producers have an interest in stable high prices, and it would not be impossible for them to agree either:

(a) a formula for stable fair prices (rising as supplies become scarcer) or - more to the point, and as I advocate;

(b) a stable high price at the level necessary to choke off demand, with both a fair sharing of the surplus, and a investment fund available to invest in renewables and energy savings.

The problem is that for the intermediaries who own and control the existing market platform, price stability is Death.

That is why our proposed architecture for the global gas market is to connect producers and consumers directly, with existing intermediaries transformed to 'capital lite' service providers.

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson