Speculators use loop and oil prices rise

Washington -- Speculative investment in crude oil adds up to 99 percent of the U.S. investment in the commodity, creating an inflationary process, analysts said.

If regulators took the step of increasing cash requirements on oil futures contracts from the current 7.5 percent to 25 percent or more, "oil prices would collapse" Chief Executive Officer of TrimTabs Investment Research Charles Biderman told The Washington Times.

Speculators can even dodge the 7.5 percent requirement using "the Enron
loop," an exception allowed for electronic trading that is named for the company that lobbied for it, the Times said.

With the Enron Loop, regulators in London and Dubai monitor electronic trading.

"I'm sure that American consumers will take little comfort that they are being protected from manipulation and excessive speculation driving up gas prices -- not by U.S. regulators but by the Dubai government," Michael Greenberger, a law professor and former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's division of trading told the Times.

While increased global demand has played a part in oil price hikes, oil companies have estimated profit-oriented speculation in oil futures has doubled the price of oil above where market dynamics would have it, the Times reported.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.