If evil "speculators" are to blame for driving up gas prices in an attempt to make "windfall profits"...?

LOL, I've asked this question too many times to mention, but I frame it in the 1998 oil price collapse after the Asian "tiger" economies collapsed. Oil went to around $10 per barrel, the drilling industry was essentially in shutdown mode since it made no sense to drill at those prices. So my question has always been the same as yours, why didn't those evil fat cat oil industry execs conspire raise prices since they have the power to do so? Curiously, I have never gotten an answer, unless you count the never-ending ad hominem attacks from the moocher left.