Suspicious of oil prices, commodities cop takes action

The push to improve the integrity of the white-hot oil futures market is gaining momentum.

With suspicions of oil speculation on the rise, the USA’s top commodities cop announced steps Tuesday to close some regulatory loopholes that hindered its ability to detect market abuse. The moves are designed to make it easier for U.S.-based regulators to monitor investors that trade U.S. oil on foreign exchanges and identify ones that try to game the system.


The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will now require trades placed on the ICE Futures Europe, an electronic exchange based in London, to adhere to the same position limits and reporting standards that apply in the USA. The more stringent rules apply to the West Texas Intermediary crude oil contract, which is linked to the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) crude oil contract. The new rules, which must be met for ICE traders to access U.S. markets, take effect in 120 days.

This change will, in effect, undo some of the regulatory differences between the CFTC and the Financial Services Authority, which oversees British trading. It will enable the CFTC to gather more detailed overseas trading information