The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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September 6, 2008

Our View: Oil market apparently misused

While much of the attention for solving the economic crisis of high gas prices has focused on more drilling, an important government investigation is suggesting that a big spike in prices in 2007 may have been artificially created.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating potential manipulation of the oil futures market by focusing on a period in 2007 when prices unexpectedly skyrocketed in relation to a storage terminal in Oklahoma that seemed to run dry mysteriously and suddenly, according to a report in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal.

Prices changed in a way that was “extremely profitable” for some traders, according to the Journal article.

Sources familiar with the investigation told The Journal that regulators are investigating whether oil companies or traders falsified supply information they are required to give the government on a regular basis. That information is put out by the Energy Information Agency and is looked at by traders around the world as a signal of supply and demand. A unexpected change in the numbers can set of a flurry of buying or selling.

The EIA says it doesn’t really audit the information the companies supply. It doesn’t check supply terminals randomly, but rather looks at prices and inventories to see if things look like they’re making sense.

Herein lies one potential problem. The EIA doesn’t really have a good system of checking if the data is accurate. A firm could report data that was not accurate knowing it would move the market in a way favorable to its positions. The CFTC is also investigating whether some companies sell or buy oil just to affect the industry report, and they are even investigating whether oil companies might be renting oil tankers and “parking” inventory at sea to further manipulate prices.

Oil futures prices, of course, are the key driving factor in retail gasoline prices. So a thorough CFTC probe is important to making sure Americans and the world in general are not paying a price that has been manipulated in violation of U.S. law.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as “insider trading” in most commodity markets. That’s particularly important considering relatively few firms control oil supplies worldwide. Reporting false information to the EIA is a crime, but one we suspect carries a penalty most oil companies could pay, given their recent record profits.

In fact, one oil company already has settled out of court with the CFTC. Marathon Oil Co. agreed to settle civil charges it allegedly attempted to manipulate oil prices through bidding activity on a centralized price reporting and market clearing system called Platts owned by McGraw-Hill Cos.

The picture emerging here seems to be one where a commodity that greatly affects millions of consumers and the economy is general has less oversight than one — the stock market — that affects relatively few people.

A call for more regulation of the oil markets seems to be met many times by politicians claiming to be pro-business and pro-free market. But more and more it seems like the oil market is not free, but in the captivity of a few players who not only have the motivation to manipulate prices, but see little risk in trying to do so.

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