Post by Steve Gardner on May 31, 2008 8:23:48 GMT
Sometimes news can give you cause for optimism and frustration at the same time.
Here, at last, it appears these speculators are being investigated. OPEC has been resisiting Bush's pressure to increase supply because their belief is the price problem lies not with low inventories but with speculators.
What's frustrating is that this investigation has apparently been running six months or so, during which time the price of oil has risen from ~$99 in December '07 to hit over $135 in May.
I wonder whether the slip back to $127 has anything to do with speculators becoming aware of this investigation.
Source and full article: Houston Chronicle
Here, at last, it appears these speculators are being investigated. OPEC has been resisiting Bush's pressure to increase supply because their belief is the price problem lies not with low inventories but with speculators.
What's frustrating is that this investigation has apparently been running six months or so, during which time the price of oil has risen from ~$99 in December '07 to hit over $135 in May.
I wonder whether the slip back to $127 has anything to do with speculators becoming aware of this investigation.
Source and full article: Houston Chronicle
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators — in a highly unusual move — revealed Thursday they have been conducting a wide-reaching probe into oil trading practices for the last six months.
And in response to growing concerns about the role speculators may be playing in driving up oil prices, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said it will require energy traders to begin providing more information so the government can better assess what effect they may be having on the markets.
"Perhaps the CFTC has gotten some religion," said Michael Masters, of Masters Capital Management LLC, who has called for tighter regulation. Although, he added, "it's just a start."
With oil futures diving more than $4 Thursday, the commission went public about its probe. It is examining the purchase, transportation, storage and trading of crude oil and futures contracts — agreements to buy or sell commodities at a later date that are central to the energy markets.
The agency provided no other details about the investigation.
"Although the commission ordinarily conducts enforcement investigations on a confidential basis, the commission is taking the extraordinary step of disclosing this investigation because of today's unprecedented market conditions," agency officials said in a prepared statement.
"Unprecedented" remained the theme Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange as futures contracts for light, sweet crude for July delivery shot up as high as $132.90 a barrel after the Energy Department announced a surprise drop in oil supplies, only to then plunge later to settle at $126.62, down $4.41 for the day.
