Senate panel to examine non-commercial impacts on oil prices

April 4, 2008
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing to examine the influence of non-commercial, institutional investors on crude oil prices Apr. 3 at 9:30 a.m. in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Apr. 3: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing to examine the influence of non-commercial, institutional investors on crude oil prices. Witnesses include Jeffrey Harris, chief economist at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; Sara Emerson, managing director of Energy Security Analysis Inc. in Wakefield, Mass.; Kevin Book, senior vice president and senior analyst at Friedman Billings Ramsey and Co. in Arlington, Va.; James Burkhard of Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Cambridge, Mass., and Sean Cota of Burlington, Vt., representing the Petroleum Marketers Association of America. The hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Why it matters: Many members of Congress suspect that crude oil prices above $100/bbl do not reflect supply and demand patterns, but represent positions by speculators who have bought crude and put it into storage for resale later at a higher price. The witness lineup includes prominent observers of the oil and gas industry who could comment on factors ranging from available worldwide production capacity to the declining US dollar's impact on markets.

Committee members include oil industry critics such as Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who has introduced bills aimed at making so-called gasoline price gouging a federal crime, and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). But they also include Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.), the committee's chief minority member, and Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.), both of whom have shown interest in finding the actual causes of apparent price and supply aberrations in the past.

At the very least, committee chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) can be expected to run a more impartial hearing than Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) does two days earlier when his Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming grills executives from the five largest US oil companies on prices, profits and investments in alternatives.

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected]