Commodity regulators in Washington have accused a Dutch trading company of making roughly $1 million in illegal profits by manipulating the prices of crude oil, heating oil and gasoline over an 11-day period last year.
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Regulators are accusing the defendants of making 19 separate attempts at market manipulation in March 2007, involving three specific Nymex contracts — for light sweet crude oil, for heating oil delivered to New York Harbor and for gasoline, also for New York delivery.
At least five attempts were successful, according to the complaint. In three instances, it said, the illegal trading pushed prices of all three commodities lower, while the other two resulted in higher prices for gasoline and crude oil.
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Now don't misunderstand - I am not claiming speculation is solely responsible for the rise in oil prices or that this one company is at the root of all financial woes. What I am saying is that a supply and demand situation has been exacerbated by speculation, some of it illegal, and that the illegal aspects must be stopped.
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