Note that the amounts of money involved here are not equal, companies respond to price movements and expected price volatility with less efficient behavior, so the volatility itself causes economic losses.
Like, there's a trade you can do where you load up an actual tanker with oil, park it, and sell an option to buy that oil. The cost of using this tanker and holding this oil a pure waste compared to just having a market-clearing quantity available at a consistent price at all times, but if the market is scared enough it makes money.
That trade works when the market is in steep carry, usually a result of depressed prices.
That trade does not work today when the market is very inverted: you buy the spot oil, and sell a call in the future. But the term structure is pricing lower oil prices in the future. You take that hit on your spot cargo.
That trade only works if you are bearish the curve and bullish flat price. And if you have this view, it's just about the worst possible way to structure that trade.
The cure for high prices is high prices. Curve inversion ensures that anyone with oil today is incentivized to sell it asap.
The point is that the most efficient ways to physically handle oil products happens when prices are stable and predictable. I could have just as easily talked about the expenses involved in keeping a profitable-only-at-higher-price field on operational standby as a real option on oil prices, or increased shipping costs as localized price changes shuffle trade routes, etc.
Like, there's a trade you can do where you load up an actual tanker with oil, park it, and sell an option to buy that oil. The cost of using this tanker and holding this oil a pure waste compared to just having a market-clearing quantity available at a consistent price at all times, but if the market is scared enough it makes money.