US suit sees manipulations of oil trades in 2008

[JimH52]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/business/global/25oil.html?_r=1&hp

I hope they give them the maximum pentalty.

 

[Care4all]

betcha that is happening now too

 

[Mr. H.]

Some extremely ballzy, risky activity going on there.

They may have influenced other impressionable traders' decisions by holding a portion of "excess" physical barrels in but one of many markets, but proving that their actions "caused futures prices to rise" across the board is a waste of time.

It's interesting that the real run-up in prices didn't occur until long after these guys quit.

 

[whitehall]

What's the maximum penalty in a civil suit? It's all smoke and mirrors. Democrats have done their best for decades to make sure the US would not be independent of foreign oil. Now they are trying to blame high energy prices on the usual (capitalist) suspects.

 

[Mr. H.]

If crude oil and natural gas are so critical to so many other industries including agriculture why in the world do we expect it to be, and remain in perpetuity, as cheap as dirt?

 

[Care4all]

If crude oil and natural gas are so critical to so many other industries including agriculture why in the world do we expect it to be, and remain in perpetuity, as cheap as dirt?

cheap as dirt gasoline would be 33 cents a gallon, as it was prior to the oil embargo in the 70's....or cheap as dirt gasoline would be below $1.00 a gallon as it was during a part of the clinton administration....$1.80 a gallon gas was outrageous in price, the first time it hit that price, which i believe was during the last Bush administration....now it seems cheap after hitting $4 bucks a gallon.....

dirt cheap gas is relative.

I am fine with gasoline going up in price 300%-400% since Clinton, AS LONG AS our family income can rise as much as well! (no such luck as of this point)

 

[Mr. H.]

Joe Petrowski of Gulf Oil was on CNBC this morning. He sees weakening in the energy markets for the months ahead. There was a brief discussion of this US lawsuit. and he agreed that improprieties should be prosecuted. His opinion is that trading adds volitility but does not "control" markets. I tend to agree.

 

[Mr. H.]

Bart Chilton of the CFTC was just on. He stressed the term "alleged" improprieties in trading.
Speculative long positions can add to all commodity prices, not just oil prices.
He said when you have a lot of volume trading, there's room for "mischief".

 

[Chilton]

Crude oil prices are not control by the US economy rather controlled by OPEC which makes it hard for us to meet both ends.I think government is concentrating on the crude oil so much it even violated the basic human rights in many countries by occupying their oil reserves by killing the innocent people.

 

[waltky]

Yea, if yer payin' for yer gas with a company credit card...

GM CEO calls for $1 gas tax hike
June 7, 2011: General Motors CEO Dan Akerson said his company and his industry would be helped, not hurt, if consumers paid higher gas taxes.

In an interview published in Tuesday's Detroit News, Akerson floated the idea of a $1 a gallon increase in the gas tax as a way to encourage buyers to purchase smaller, more fuel efficient cars. Greg Martin, spokesman for GM's Washington office, confirmed that the quotes reflect Akerson's and GM's view. Akerson said he would support a jump in the gas tax if it came instead of tighter fuel economy regulations that GM and other automakers will have to meet in coming years. By the year 2025, automakers could be forced to hit fuel economy averages of as much as 62 mpg.

Akerson said that a higher gas tax, including an immediate 50-cent-a-gallon increase to take advantage of recent declines in gas prices, would probably make some of his Republican friends "puke." But he said it would do more to help the environment than the pending fuel economy rules. "There ought to be a discussion on the cost versus the benefits," Akerson told the paper. "What we are going to do is tax production here, and that will cost us jobs."

Martin acknowledged such a gas tax hike would be very difficult, if not impossible, to pass, and added that GM is not going to actively push for a gas tax hike as part of its legislative agenda. "As a company we understand that's a decision that resides with Congress and policymakers," he said. The current federal gas tax is only 18.4 cents a gallon.

GM has gained U.S. market share so far this year, even in the face of rising gas prices. It has the best selling compact car in the country, the Chevrolet Cruze, which was introduced to showrooms in November. At his first annual meeting since the company's initial public offering, Akerson told shareholders GM has been able to weather the storm of high oil prices even better than it expected when it was making contingency plans last year. "I maintain these are the right vehicles at the right time in our history," he said.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Granny says dem Arabs an' Big Oil an' speculators is all in cahoots together...

Gas prices: Down but big slide may be over
July 10, 2011: The two-month drop in gasoline prices across the country has stopped, according to a survey published Sunday.

The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.62, down just a penny over the past two weeks, the Lundberg survey found. The price is a 38-cent drop from the beginning of May, when the average topped off at $4 a gallon. "Further dramatic drops probably aren't in the cards," publisher Trilby Lundberg said.

Crude oil prices bounced back up $5 per barrel during the same period, she said. If oil prices stay "more or less steady, gasoline prices will be too," she said. Although the United States is in the middle of peak demand season, demand is weak, Lundberg said -- a result of the economy, with fewer people taking driving vacations and the unemployed having no jobs to drive to and from each day.

The Lundberg Survey tabulates average prices at thousands of stations across the country. The city with the highest average price found in the latest survey was Chicago, at $4.03 a gallon. The lowest was Phoenix, at $3.30.

MORE

 

[editec]

Hang 'em.

Hang 'em high.

 

[whitehall]

In '08 democrats held the majority in both houses of congress. What was the first thing on the democrat party agenda when they gained the majority half way into Bush's 2nd term? Fannie Mae? Oil prices? Nope. Democrats held hearings on steroid use in Baseball. The powerful chairman of the House Banking committee told Americans that Fannie Mae was fine while it was in desperate shape and on the verge of collapse. What are we to make about Barney Frank's lame excuse that he had "ideological blinders" on when Fannie collapsed? He let it happen? Did democrats allow crooked oil trades?

 

[waltky]

Granny says dem oil companies, an' speculators, an' Arabs an' bankers an' politicians is gettin' ready to get in cahoots together again...

Downtrodden Oil Prices May Be Poised to Spike
9/23/11 - Oil prices plunged below $80 Friday as European debt panic slammed into the markets with the downgrade of eight Greek banks by Moody's Investor Service and traders liquidated positions to cover margin calls.

West Texas Intermediate light sweet crude oil for November delivery tumbled 82 cents to $79.69 and the November Brent crude contract slumped by 54 cents to $103.44 a barrel, as Moody's declared that the Greek government "faces significant solvency challenges and historical experience shows that small sovereign debt restructurings have often been followed by larger sovereign defaults." On Friday, Moody's downgraded eight Greek banks by two notches, highlighting the massive amounts of money they could lose due to their gargantuan exposure to Greek government bonds.

Moody's warned that private creditors could also face major losses due to their large exposure to the tenuous Greek government bonds. Friday's oil price plunge mirrored the previous day's bloodbath, when oil prices got pummeled following reports that pointed to signs of contraction in the Chinese economy -- the biggest consumer of energy in the world -- and recessionary conditions in the eurozone. OptionsXpress analyst Michael Zarembski said there are signs right now that refinery buying in the futures is on the decline. "The moves have been exacerbated by some larger players liquidating positions," said Kingsview Financial trader Matthew Zeman. In the U.S., the Fed's "Operation Twist" announcement provided little comfort to the markets, who had just received news of another round of weak jobs numbers.

Commenting on the big price declines, Zeman added that "a lot of people [were] also having to liquidate positions to cover margin calls. This almost always leads to some 'unruly' selling like what we have seen the last few days." He added, "(A) lot of volume on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, which actually could be indicative of a short term bottom." Typically, oil trades with stocks. Zarembski noted that he wouldn't be surprised if crude oil spiked Friday with the passing of this week's commodity liquidation. Meanwhile, SEB commodity strategist Filip Petersson said that independent of strong fundamentals, crude oil could be yanked in either direction Friday, driven by the general market climate.

Source

 

[Mr. H.]

If you want oil tomorrow, you better be willing to pay for it today.

 

[Care4all]

In '08 democrats held the majority in both houses of congress. What was the first thing on the democrat party agenda when they gained the majority half way into Bush's 2nd term? Fannie Mae? Oil prices? Nope. Democrats held hearings on steroid use in Baseball. The powerful chairman of the House Banking committee told Americans that Fannie Mae was fine while it was in desperate shape and on the verge of collapse. What are we to make about Barney Frank's lame excuse that he had "ideological blinders" on when Fannie collapsed? He let it happen? Did democrats allow crooked oil trades?

gawd, why can't you people stop making things up? Why lie?

the democrats did not win the majority halfway through president bush's term....they began reigning in 2007.

the democrats did NOT start the baseball hearings on steroids....that took place in 2005 BY REPUBLICANS.

 

[uscitizen]

WAAH those liberals are picking on poor little oil companies!

 

[uscitizen]

Umm didn't Exon have a negative federal income tax bill in 2008 or was that for 2009?

 

[zonly1]

WAAH those liberals are picking on poor little oil companies!

But solyndra is okay?

 

[Mr. H.]

So, who manipulated the price of oil from $140 in '07 to $80 today?