The persistent heat nurtured buoyant demand for residual fuel oil and direct crude burning for power generation, as electricity consumption soared to meet air conditioning demand in the region.
As New Scientist's Feedback column has noted over the years, these snake-oil salesmen exploit a bafflingly persistent myth, that industrial activity has sucked much of the oxygen out of the air.
The only way speculation can have a persistent effect on oil prices, then, is if it leads to physical hoarding - an increase in private inventories of black gunk.