NEWS RELEASE

Committee on Energy and Commerce
Rep. John D. Dingell, Chairman

Dingell Introduces Bill on Oil Speculation, Energy Market Manipulation

Washington, DC – Rep. John D. Dingell (D-MI), the Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, today introduced legislation that would empower the Secretary of Energy to gather information from multiple federal agencies and commissions responsible for studying, overseeing and policing petroleum-related energy markets in an effort to uncover the factors affecting the price of crude oil and petroleum products.

“For too long, energy markets have operated behind a veil of secrecy,” Dingell said. “I have dark suspicions about the effects that unchecked speculation and possible market manipulation are having on the price of crude oil and petroleum products. Given the record energy prices that are harming businesses, farmers, consumers, and our economy as a whole, Congress should act to determine the precise effects that manipulation and speculation are having on energy prices, and work to identify where there are gaps in regulation that allow this rampant speculation.”

Cosponsored by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee, the bipartisan legislation would require the Department of Energy to establish an interagency working group that would be responsible for producing a study identifying the factors that affect the price of crude oil and petroleum products. The working group would include members from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and other relevant regulatory bodies. The working group is expected to include representatives from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Under the leadership of the Secretary of Energy, this working group would advise Congress on gaps in data collection and oversight involving both the physical and financial markets, in the United States and abroad. It would also assess whether the existing framework for policing the integrity of the financial and physical markets can or should be strengthened. The legislation would require the working group to report back to Congress quarterly and to complete its study within a year of the bill’s enactment.

“This legislation will help bring needed accountability to energy markets,” Dingell said. “The recent run up in energy prices has caused great concern and calls for action. Before we act, we must get the facts so that we can craft a solution that actually addresses this problem.”

The Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations has been investigating energy speculation since last year. The Committee held a hearing on the topic in December and has scheduled a second hearing for June 23 to explore whether weak regulation of the futures market has permitted pension managers and currency hedgers to flood the oil futures market with so much money that, at a time of tight supply and demand, oil prices have become disconnected from underlying supply and demand.

View the legislation »
View other documents regarding the Committee’s ongoing investigation »

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