This'n'That; March Eighteenth #3; Evil Oil Speculators!

Those 'Evil' Oil Speculators!
    Of course, the politicians and the 'national pamphleteers' are going to blame America's current fuel price quagmire on all the wrong entities!!  Primary among the wrong-doers are those 'evil' oil speculators!!
    "Those 'evil' oil speculators" provide a useful economic service!  The Hell, you say?!?  No, REALLY, they actually do!!  I know from whence I speak:  Say you have a small trucking company with five trucks.  A good 'per truck' annual average is 125,000 miles, so your entire fleet will travel 625,000 miles.  The average fuel economy for a heavy truck is approximately 6 mpg, so your annual fleet-wide, on-road, fuel consumption will be 104,166 gallons.   This doesn't count any idle time, which can add dramatically to the total, so let's say your total fuel consumption is 115,000 gallons.  
    An a daily basis, professional truck drivers deal with wide fluctuations in diesel fuel prices!  Today (03/18/'11), those per-gallon prices vary from $3.799 in Houston, Texas, to $4.239 in Bath, N.Y.  If these prices remained constant, your annual fuel expense would range from $436,885.00 to $487,485.00!!
    Here's where "those 'evil' oil speculators" perform their magic!!  OK--based on previous history--you know you're gonna consume at least 100,000 gallons of fuel annually.  So you buy four diesel fuel options contracts; each three months out from the previous one.  You specify  that this fuel will be available for delivery at any 'Pilot' Truckstop-nationwide; you specify an agreed-upon price of each contract.  "Those 'evil' oil speculators" confirm a delivery agreement with 'Pilot, Inc.'  "Those 'evil' oil speculators" guarantee the agreed-upon prince.  Their money is made or lost on the wholesale price increases or decreases.  What you've accomplished is:  You know that 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel will be 'incrementally' available anywhere in the country.  You know what the 'incremental' price will be.  If the public price-at-the-pump goes up, you've saved money!!  If the public price-at-the-pump goes down, you've lost money, BUT you're guaranteed that the fuel will be available to your trucks!!

(Point of reference:  The first time I fueled my new [to me] heavy truck, was in Dallas, Texas; it was in 1999; the total bill was $94.88 [125 gallons @ $0.759; at today's prices it would have ranged from $474.88 to $529.88!!])