"I, on the other hand say that they cannot beyond switching to an alternative fuel in order to collapse the market by creating a glut. This would be rather short lived as no doubt China and India would take up the slack in the market"

Exactly T and this is where we should be putting our energies, "alternative fuels". We have the abilities, technologies & there is profit in it. We are even there in some areas & don't know enough to expand on it. Hybrid vechiles is one example, "Green Building" is another. But we have to commit & know that any industry that is dependant on oil will need to adapt. This is where we get to a impasse.
With this advance, we can kiss the 'Oil Wars' goodbye, that alone might save us a few pennies.

$69 per barrel is just what we're paying for the barrel, what it's costing us to "GET" the barrel is far more.   

Barry