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The sudden crash in oil prices might be the smoking gun that shows speculation, rather than supply and demand, drove the huge run-up in oil futures last year.

Daniel Fine of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology’s Center for Energy Policy told participants at a forum in Albuquerque Jan. 16 that massive, speculative trading by investment banks like Lehman Brothers, hedge funds and others is what drove oil above $140 per barrel.

It created a “colossal energy price bubble,” said Fine, a former MIT research associate and contributing editor on natural resources for BusinessWeek.

“Like real estate, the energy bubble was based on excessive, open credit that allowed big investment firms to instantly arrange contracts without putting anything up,” Fine said. “No deposit or letter of credit was needed.”

After Lehman Brothers folded in September, investigators found it held 10,000 oil contracts of 1,000 barrels each, Fine said.

Read more: Fine: Lehman Brother’s, others drove oil barrel prices up – New Mexico Business Weekly