alt Hacker News> There is no loan necessary ...
That is also not what Williams says. He says a simultaneous long cash--short future position is practically the same as a loan of the corresponding commodity. (With the lending side being short cash--long future.) This activity accounts for many of the patterns we see in futures markets.
That position has zero to do with managing fuel inventory. He was trying to argue this is supposed to help managing inventory in practical world.
These patterns are about speculation, not about managing inventories.