Corporate oligarchs and politicians have been in bed together since the invention of the BIG OIL companies.
Of course CORPORATIONS are going to look after their own first and foremost. They don't want to have to payout more than they have to. This includes paying out politicians to artificially stimulate oil production in their favor when they need it, or creating new laws and amendments to create higher rates for consumers and lower production prices for the oil companies.
This means politicians ARE in charge at some point. They can regulate the MEANS by which gas prices are set.
Because they are politicians, they can overrule the oil companies if serves a better purpose for them to do so.
When you cut off resources, prices for products manufactured from those resources will get price hikes.
When resources are free flowing, said products manufactured from those resources can have lower prices.
This all comes from political regulation of said resources. In other words, the politicians are creating a price coercion by manipulating resources.
Oil companies can set their own prices if they want, but they choose to do it the unethical way, not the honest business way. This way, if the prices go up, they have the politicians to blame, even though 99% of the time it IS their fault. If the prices go down, the oil companies take all the credit.
Did you never take economics and politics in school???