Throwing Light on High Oil Prices and 'Dark Markets'

Throwing Light on High Oil Prices and 'Dark Markets'
Some blame speculators for recent increases, but others see market supply and demand at work. The I.M.F. will investigate.
19 June 2008

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

First a crisis, then calls to investigate. This is happening now with high oil prices.

Last Saturday, in Japan, finance ministers of the Group of Eight countries urged oil producing countries to increase production. But they also called on the International Monetary Fund and the International Energy Agency to jointly examine the recent price rise.

I.M.F. chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that some G-Eight ministers were concerned about financial speculation. How important it is and what influence it has on the market will be investigated, he says. A report is expected in October.

In the United States, government agencies are already looking for ways to increase supervision of oil markets.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission just reached an agreement with a London electronic exchange, ICE Futures Europe. ICE, the Intercontinental Exchange, agreed to observe the same trading limits as American markets. Some people have called ICE Futures Europe a "dark market," a market with little supervision.

Regulators want to know more about who is trading in oil futures. A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell a quantity of a product at a set price and date in the future. The New York Mercantile Exchange began trading oil futures in nineteen eighty-three.

Futures markets now largely set the price of oil. Yet these contracts rarely involve an exchange of real barrels of oil. Most oil is traded on what is called the spot market or through other contracts between producers and users. The prices, however, are usually based on futures prices.

Doug MacIntyre is senior oil analyst with the United States Energy Information Administration. He notes that the position of the government is that market forces of supply and demand are driving today's high oil prices. But he also notes that more money has been going into futures.

This money can be from oil producers and users. But it also comes from banks, big investors called hedge funds and speculators with no need for oil. Speculators try to guess the direction a market will go; in some cases they profit when prices drop.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and others say it is not clear that speculators are to blame for high oil prices. They say markets need buyers and sellers willing to take more risk than average investors. But critics say oil prices have gone up too quickly recently to be explained by supply and demand alone.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

----------------------------Google Translate

投掷光照对高油价和'黑暗市场
一些责怪投机者最近有所增加，但其他人则认为市场的供应和需求的工作。该i.m.f.将进行调查。
2008年6月19日

这是美国之音特别英语经济学报告。

第一次危机，然后调用进行调查。这是现在发生的事情与高油价。

上周六，在日本，财长们对8国集团呼吁石油生产国增加产量。但他们还呼吁国际货币基金和国际能源机构，共同研究，最近的价格上涨。

i.m.f.行政多米尼克斯特劳斯-卡恩说，有些八国集团部长们关心的金融投机。是何等的重要和什么样的影响，它已在市场上会进行调查，他说。报告预计在10月。

在美国，政府机构已经在寻找各种方法来增加监督的石油市场。

美国商品期货贸易委员会刚刚达成了协议，与伦敦的电子交易，冰期货欧洲。冰，洲际交流，同意遵守相同的交易限额为：美国的市场。有些人有所谓的冰期货欧洲的“黑暗市场” ，市场几乎没有监督。

监管机构希望了解更多有关谁是交易的原油期货。期货合约是一项协议，购买或出售一定数量的产品一套的价格和未来的日期。新的纽约商品交易所开始交易原油期货在1983年。

期货市场现在基本上设置的石油价格。然而，这些合同的，很少涉及外汇实时桶石油。大多数石油是买卖，什么是所谓的现货市场或通过其他合约之间的生产者和使用者。价格，不过，通常是基于对期货价格。

道格麦金太尔是高级石油分析师与美国能源信息管理局。他指出，政府的立场是，市场力量的供应和需求是推动今天的高油价。但他也注意到，更多的钱已进入期货。

这笔钱可以从石油生产者和使用者。但它也来自银行，大投资者所谓的对冲基金及炒家无需石油。炒家尝试猜测的方向，市场将进入;在某些情况下，他们的利润时，价格将下滑。

库务司司长唐英年保尔森和其他人说，目前还不清楚炒家是咎由自取，油价高企。他们说，市场需要的买家和卖家愿意承担更多的风险高于平均水平的投资者。但批评人士说，石油价格上升太快，最近被解释的供应和需求。

这是该美国之音特别英语经济学的报告，书面，由马里奥里特尔。我史蒂夫ember 。