Theft = Short Traders in EEERegulators get wake-up call: Just a few traders dominate oil trading…
Following Post piece is one of the best investigative looks to date at oil trading and our sleeping regulators and congress. No wonder we are where we are.....
Regulators had long classified a private Swiss energy conglomerate called Vitol as a trader that primarily helped industrial firms that needed oil to run their businesses.
But when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission examined Vitol's books last month, it found that the firm was in fact more of a speculator, holding oil contracts as a profit-making investment rather than a means of lining up the actual delivery of fuel. Even more surprising to the commodities markets was the massive size of Vitol's portfolio -- at one point in July, the firm held 11 percent of all the oil contracts on the regulated New York Mercantile Exchange.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/20/AR2008082003898.html