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Oil Price Manipulation

Article Index

Another Shoe Has Dropped… and It's a Big One

By , Global Energy Strategist, Oil & Energy Investor • @KentMoors_OEI -

I wasn't more than 30 minutes outside of D.C. the other night before my cell phone started ringing.

The calls involved breaking new developments overseas that promise to have a big impact on the global energy markets. They concerned a major global energy situation that is likely to create a domino effect that will have consequences for U.S. domestic policy.

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A Big Time Squeeze for Refineries is About to Begin

By , Global Energy Strategist, Oil & Energy Investor • @KentMoors_OEI -

After banking some very hefty profits for Energy Advantage and Energy Inner Circle subscribers on refining stocks earlier this year, the entire sector now is about to land "between a rock and a hard place."

Once a high-flying place for investors to earn substantial profits, refiners have been under pressure for the last two months. But that's actually just the beginning of what's to come.

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Why the Fed's QE Policy is Bullish for Oil Prices

By , Global Energy Strategist, Oil & Energy Investor • @KentMoors_OEI -

Most investors have followed what the Fed's QE policy has done to gold, but few realize its impact on oil prices.

Recently, I talked about how crude was beginning to occupy a position as a store of market value ("Why Oil Is Becoming the New 'Gold Standard," May 20, 2013). The development has been a direct consequence of the flight from holding gold.

That flight may be tapering and a new floor established for the next major spike by the metal.

The problem is there is no agreement on which direction that move will be...

These days, a sudden improvement in gold prices may only extend as far as hedge funds and institutional investors covering shorts.

Nonetheless, there is an interesting parallel developing between the plight of gold and crude oil prices.

These Oil Stocks Are the Big Winners in This Year's "Summer Pop"

By , Global Energy Strategist, Oil & Energy Investor • @KentMoors_OEI -

I have been "in the field" for the past several days and will be back in circulation later this week. But I wanted to send you a note on what's been taking place recently.

The last two trading sessions have seen a spike in oil stocks. The rise has been focused on companies that provide services to early-stage field development, as well as for crude production.

Now, we have witnessed a similar "summer pop" in each of the past three years. It tends to signal a rise in expected medium-term demand for both crude oil and oil products.

However this time around, the improvement isn't reflected in companies across the board, but rather in those emphasizing geographically specific field plays.

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How to Invest in Oil's Final Frontier: The Arctic

By , Contributing Writer, Money Morning -

Investors searching for how to invest in oil in 2013 should be focused on these latest developments from the Arctic.

In fact, countries are racing to get a piece of what could be the final frontier for oil...

As ice melts in the Arctic region, oil and gas trapped beneath the water becomes more accessible.

Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors recently explained to Money Morning members about the search for Arctic oil and gas.

He spoke about the years-in-the-making U.S. Geological Survey's Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal. The study found that 84% of the total undiscovered oil and gas left on the planet is located above the Arctic Circle, mainly offshore and in three huge basins that lie under shallow seas.

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Oil Price Manipulation Awakens Libor, Enron Ghosts

By , Money Morning -

Last July, we warned you that oil prices could potentially be manipulated in similar fashion to the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), and now a recent raid of major oil companies highlights this growing danger to the $3.4 trillion-a-year crude market.

The European Commission last week stormed the offices of Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE ADR: RDS.A, RDS.B), BP PLC ( NYSE ADR: BP), and Statoil ASA (NYSE ADR: STO) as part of the ongoing investigation to find out whether companies are manipulating oil prices and, if so, how long it has been going on and the possible ramifications.

"The commission has concerns that the companies may have colluded in reporting distorted prices to a price reporting agency (PRA) to manipulate the published prices for a number of oil and biofuel products," the EC said in a statement.

Besides major oil companies, big banks are active in the energy market and would likely benefit from any manipulation, David Frenk, director of research at the financial reform group Better Markets and a former commodities analyst, told CNN.

The ordeal has brought back memories not only of last year's Libor scandal but also of the actions taken 12 years ago by Enron to control energy prices.

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Will Oil Prices be the Next Manipulation Scandal?

By , Money Morning -

Now that the Libor manipulation scandal has been revealed, it looks like oil prices could be the focus of the next search for misreporting.

According to the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the current system of oil price reporting is "susceptible to manipulation or distortion."

Comparisons to Libor manipulation have been made because oil prices, such as Brent, serve as a benchmark for trillions of dollars of securities and contracts.

There is the potential for market participants to manipulate oil price assessments published by price-reporting agencies (PRA) through the submission of false information and selective reporting of deals.

Traders at various banks voluntarily report the prices they pay for oil contracts to Platts and other PRAs. Platts, which provides the most influential assessment, uses a number of trades to decide what the benchmark price, quoted to the outside world, should be.

That is where the trouble begins.

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Oil Price Manipulation: What President Obama Doesn't Understand About Oil

By , Chief Investment Strategist, Money Map Report -


If you think gasoline prices are volatile now, stay tuned. President Obama's plan to clamp down on oil speculators is going to make things worse.

I'm sure you've seen the news by now.

The president wants to clamp down on so-called "oil price manipulation" and has proposed a $52 billion plan to increase f ederal supervision of oil markets.

What the p resident doesn't understand is that the oil markets already have this function built in.

Speaking from the Rose Garden last Tuesday, President Obama noted specifically that we can't afford to have "speculators artificially manipulating markets buy buying up oil, creating the perception of a shortage and driving prices higher - only to flip the oil for a quick profit."

Evidently, the president hasn't passed Econ 101.

If he had he would know that prices on everything from eggs to houses are by their very definition self regulating.

Speculation, as opposed to manipulation, is a vital part of the markets - they are not the same thing despite the fact that the p resident is interchanging the terms.

If prices are too high, people stop buying. If prices are too low, they stop selling. By authorizing $52 billion in oversight, he's chasing a ghost that he'll never catch.

The Real Problem with Oil Prices

The real problem is that the United States consumes 20% of the world's crude but only produces 2%.

It comes a time when oil demand is expected to rise more than 25% (to 105 million barrels a day) by 2015, according to a new report titled Oil and Gas: A Global Outlook by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

If you want the biggest piece of the pie from the deli, you have to pay a premium.

There is no hocus pocus and there's no additional oversight necessary. Rather, we need to enforce the laws we already have on the books.

Sure the $10 million fines he's jawboning about (up from $1 million) sound great but they're really a non-starter. In fact, given that Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) alone generated an average of $1.33 billion a day in 2011, they're little more than an acceptable cost of doing business. Nice try.

Take gasoline, for example.

Prices have jumped 78.2% since the p resident took office and that doesn't sit well with the party faithful who are convinced that evil oil price speculators are responsible.

They are distraught that traders put hundreds of billions of dollars into energy every month because that may cause prices to rise.

This is not complicated. Any time there are more buyers than sellers, prices go up. Any time there is more demand than supply, prices go up.

Contrast what's going on in the oil markets with what's happening in natural gas.
Prices for natural gas are at ten- year lows. Demand has risen but supply has risen faster. There are more suppliers than buyers. So natural gas prices drop.

Natural gas, by the way, is traded by many of the same traders who trade oil.

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