Chron: New rules for oil trading.

Even if you have just your little toe dipped in the oil trading markets, you know there’s change afoot.

The the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed this year may have been triggered by the implosion of the mortgage securitization markets, but it expands regulation of all over-the-counter trading — including energy commodities.

True, energy commodities make up less than one percent of the $615 trillion global over-the-counter derivatives market. But Dodd-Frank aims to reduce systemic risk in the economy by giving the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the SEC greater authority over areas that have been largely hands-off to regulators.

But where the rubber meets the road for Dodd-Frank is in how it is actually applied via the rulemaking process that is now underway at CFTC and SEC.

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