• 3 minutes e-car sales collapse
  • 6 minutes America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide
  • 11 minutes Perovskites, a ‘dirt cheap’ alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient
  • 19 mins GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES
  • 6 days The United States produced more crude oil than any nation, at any time.
  • 17 mins Could Someone Give Me Insights on the Future of Renewable Energy?
  • 7 days How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy
  • 10 days James Corbett Interviews Irina Slav of OILPRICE.COM - "Burn, Hollywood, Burn!" - The Corbett Report
  • 10 days The European Union is exceptional in its political divide. Examples are apparent in Hungary, Slovakia, Sweden, Netherlands, Belarus, Ireland, etc.
The Rise and Fall of Master Limited Partnerships

The Rise and Fall of Master Limited Partnerships

Master limited partnerships (MLPs) were…

China Dominates Global Hydropower Generation

China Dominates Global Hydropower Generation

China is the undisputed global…

European Commission Investigates Oil Majors for Oil Price Manipulation

After the Libor rigging scandal in 2012, authorities have sharpened their act, deeply scrutinizing company financial records, and implementing stricter regulations. This has led to a new investigation which has led European authorities to raid the offices of Shell, BP, and Statoil, in what is suspected to be one of the largest international actions since Libor.

The European Commission admitted that it carried out surprise raids on the offices, two in EU member states, and one in a non-EU country, as part of an investigation into the oil majors over allegations of anti-competitive agreements, which led to oil price manipulation.

The Commission stated that “officials carried out unannounced inspections at the premises of several companies active in and providing services to the crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels sectors.

Related article: Peak Oil Price: The Latest Industry Worry

The Commission has concerns that the companies may have colluded in reporting distorted prices to a price reporting agency to manipulate the published prices for a number of oil and biofuel products.”

Statoil has claimed that the entire misunderstanding is related to the Platts price assessment process. Each day during a half-hour period known as the Platts window, the oil pricing agency determines the cash prices by analysing bids, offers, and trades. The system has taken criticism before, through claims that the half hour only gives a very small snapshot of the market, and that the exclusion of trades outside of the time period make the system vulnerable to manipulation.

Platts, Statoil, Shell, and BP have agreed to cooperate with the investigation.

By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com



Join the discussion | Back to homepage



Leave a comment

Leave a comment

EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
Oilprice - The No. 1 Source for Oil & Energy News