Crude Oil Prices Could Be Easily Manipulated

Commodity News Center ^ | 5-29-2008 | Alison Simard

[Entrepreneur]

Interesting thought. Maybe SAJ or someone with a good understanding of the commodities market can add some additional insight.

[Entrepreneur]

ping

[Eric Blair 2084]

Speculators aren’t manipulating crude oil prices, they are manipulating the brainwashed sheeple and their elected public serpents stupidity for fun and profit.

Do you have a problem with that?

[the invisib1e hand]

unhhn. it would have made more sense to do the manipulating at 30 when the risk was much lower, don't you think?

obamaphiles aren't then only ones on kool-aid.

the manipulating is done, if anywhere, at the source.

[bcsco]

I listened to an interesting thread on WLS Talk Radio a couple weekends ago. It was Saturday AM Car Talk. The statement made was that oil producers make $.40/$1.00 profit on refined gas. The city of Chicago imposes a $.79/$1.00 tax on all gasoline pumped in The city (I may have it wrong and it’s Cook County instead of the city).

And yet people are willing to complain about the greedy oil companies when their profit, from doing all the work is 1/2 of what this particular metropolitan area reaps in taxes for doing nothing but gouging their citizens. That’s where the real price gouging is occurring.

[taxcontrol]

Micro manipulation - changes that have an impact on the spot or short term price of oil

Macro manipulation - situations that have an impact on the oil MARKET (either supply or demand).

Investors / Speculators make micro manipulations and can swing prices in the short term. THE REAL manipulators are the Macro manipulations ... like restrictions on drilling and restrictions on refineries.

[allmost]

I ve got a nickel that say’s they can't be moved a Dollar...

[johnandrhonda]

This is nonsense. Anyone that buys a futures contract without the intent or ability of taking actual oil delivery from the contract has to SELL IT before the contract expiration date.
Similarly, anyone that sells a futures contract without the intent or ability of delivering actually oil against the contract has to BUY IT back before the contract expiration date. These people are speculators and are either long or short, but you can be sure there are exactly an equal number of each. Net over all effect on the price of oil: ZERO.

[VOA]

bump

[johnandrhonda]

exactly correct.

[Diggity]

They sell or buy the current contract to close it out and roll into the next one.

Its the crooked Russians doing it.

Check out this article on Putin:

Putin “effectively” controls 37% of the shares of Surgutneftegaz, an oil exploration company and Russia’s third biggest oil producer, worth $20bn, he says. He also owns 4.5% of Gazprom, and “at least 75%” of Gunvor, a mysterious Swiss-based oil trader, founded by Gennady Timchenko, a friend of the president’s, Belkovsky alleges.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/dec/21/russia.topstories3

Wonder why Putin owns a oil trading firm???

Russia is not even a real country. Its a criminal enterprise.

John

[B-Cause]

Very Telltale..........Questions??

Gas at $4.00 a gallon. Who's to blame?

Thanks to the environmentalist lobby and its influence on Democratic legislators in Congress, the U.S. has, for decades, been prohibited from drilling for oil in places that we know contain billions of barrels of proven reserves.

Check out this map:

All of the "NO" zones are places where the U.S., thanks to the Democratic Party, is prohibited from drilling for oil.

But wait - it gets better.

*** China, Cuba, Canada and others continue to drill off our shores where U.S. companies are not allowed to drill because of
Democratic Policies!

Yes, that's right: China and Cuba are actively exploring oil fields 50 miles from Key West, Florida while U.S. companies are barred from working in this area because of U.S. policy. So, instead of allowing the most environmentally responsible companies to operate there and increase our domestic supply, China, who has a dismal environmental record, is preparing to suck our close, lucrative oil reserves dry.

Unbelievable!

Investor's Business Daily recently explained how irresponsible the Democrats have been on the energy crisis. They lay into what they consider to be the worst Congress ever for Failing to allow drilling in ANWR. We have, as President Bush noted, estimated capacity of a million barrels of oil a day from this source alone -- enough for 27 million gallons of gas and diesel. But Congress won't touch it, fearful of the clout of the environmental lobby. As a result, you pay through the nose at the pump so your representative can raise campaign cash.

Refusing to build new refineries. The U.S. hasn't built one since 1976, yet the EPA requires at least 15 unique 'boutique' fuel blends that can be sold in different areas around the nation. This means that U.S. refinery capacity is stretched so tight that even the slightest problem at a refinery causes enormous supply problems and price spikes. Congress has done nothing about this.

Turning its back on nuclear power. It's safe and, with advances in nuclear reprocessing technology, waste problems have been minimized. Still, we have just 104 nuclear plants -- the same as a decade ago -- producing just 19% of our total energy. (Many European nations produce 40% or more of their power with nuclear.) Granted, nuclear power plants are expensive -- about $3 billion each. But they produce energy at $1.72/kilowatt-hour vs. $2.37 for coal and $6.35 for natural gas.

Raising taxes on energy producers. This is where a basic understanding of economics would help: Higher taxes and needless regulation lead to less production of a commodity. So by proposing 'windfall' and other taxes on energy companies plus tough new rules, Congress only makes our energy situation worse.

These are just a few of Congress' sins of omission -- all while India, China, Eastern Europe and the Middle East are adding more than a million barrels of new demand each and every year. New Energy Department forecasts see world oil demand growing 40% by 2030, including a 28% increase in the U.S.

Americans who are worried about the direction of their country, including runaway energy and food prices, should keep in mind the upcoming election isn't just about choosing a new president. We'll also pick a new Congress.

If you agree with the need to let the American people know who’s REALLY responsible for the sky-high gasoline prices we’re seeing today, please tell everyone you know about this situation.

If we elect a liberal Democrat as president in the Fall and keep the same Democrat-controlled Congress, nothing will change except gasoline prices, which will keep going up.

[bcsco]

I’m borrowing that!

[B-Cause]

Have it it! Take whatever works for you.

[bcsco]

I’m sending it to everyone on my email list; especially those few idiot liberal relatives I’ve got.

[Shermy]

“They sell or buy the current contract to close it out and roll into the next one.”

You’re spot on.

And they won’t roll it back into the traditional parking place, T-Bills, because Bernanke is keeping interest rates so low in order to help bail out mortgage backed securities and the like.

It’s a mess.

[dennisw]

bttt

[B-Cause]

Way to go. I hope others do as you are doing.

[SAJ]

Thanks for the ping, E.

This article contains numerous factual errors, plus an hilariously bad ''plan''. I'll comment on all this in detail, if you like, but it'll have to be in an hour or so. Hope that's OK.

Meantime, have fun. This ought to be an interesting thread.

;^)

[count-your-change]

I, amongst others, would like to see your comments. The worst of author’s plan seems to be having the gov. as a trader in the futures market.