By David Tanner, Land Line associate editor

With fuel and oil prices continuing to inch upward, a group of 68 federal lawmakers is calling on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to crack down on speculative oil trading. They even accuse the commission of not doing its job to enforce a crackdown law passed in 2010.

The national average price for on-highway diesel was at $4.094 on Monday, March 5, up more than 4 cents for the week and 24 cents since mid-January according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions saw fuel prices up more than 6 cents a gallon for the week, yet remain the only two regions averaging under $4.

Following is a roundup for the week of on-highway diesel prices as reported by the EIA:


U.S. – $4.094, up 4.3 cents
East Coast – $4.167, up 3.3 cents
New England – $4.253, up 3.2 cents
Central Atlantic – $4.243, up 3.5 cents
Lower Atlantic – $4.094, up 3.1 cents
Midwest – $3.974, up 6 cents
Gulf Coast – $4.020, up 2.8 cents
Rocky Mountain – $3.986, up 6.7 cents
West Coast – $4.372, up 4.6 cents
California – $4.454, up 4.4 cents

ProMiles reported the daily price average for diesel at $4.081, up four-tenths of a penny overnight and 3 cents during the past week.

Connecticut led the way by state with an average of $4.407 per gallon. The cheapest average by state was Indiana at $3.798 including taxes.

But it wasn’t diesel prices that got a group of mostly Democratic members of the U.S. House and Senate to sign on to a letter addressed to the trading commission and authored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont.

Sanders pointed to a Goldman Sachs report that stated speculation in the oil market adds about 56 cents to the pump price of gasoline.

The average gas price was at $3.77 on Monday, up 25 cents since mid-February.

Sanders and others said the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 is in place to help reduce manipulation of the markets by cracking down on the types of trades and swaps on Wall Street that have no regard to supply and demand.

“As the cost for American people to fill their gas tanks continues to skyrocket, the CFTC continues to drag its feet on imposing strict speculation limits to eliminate, prevent, or diminish excessive oil speculation as required by the Dodd-Frank Act,” the lawmakers stated.

Click here to read the letter.

Speaking of oil prices, crude was trading at $106.86 at midday Monday in New York, up 14 cents on fears about Iran’s development of a nuclear program, Reuters reported.

In Europe, crude oil was trading at $124.24 a barrel, up 59 cents based on the European Union’s vow to ban the importation of oil from Iran sometime this summer.


Copyright © OOIDA

 

here we go:

"i didn't get a harrumph outta that guy"

 

JMO ! But I say if you want to buy oil ya better get a tank to store it in cuz it gonna be delivered in a week!!! Ya can't store it get out of the oil business!!

Smokie

 

speculators? rofl. What a nice diversionary tactic to distract focus from the out of control federal reserve who is engineering inflation.

The reason oil is up is because the federal reserve is printing money like its going out of style. QE1 and QE2.

 

Here...these 2 bears will explain it

Gas Prices Explained - YouTube

 

Prices keep going up someone some where is making more and more money..... All while Im sitting at home drawing unemployment because no one can afford to fix or improve anything, Im a journeyman millwright and a certified pipe welder and Im staring at a computer!!!!

 

Just wait,

Japan is close to shuttining down over 30 of it's nuclear power plants this June after last years disaster. The demand for diesel and other fossil fuels will definitely go up and we will export even more because other contries are willing to pay a higher price for it.

Even though the US demand for oil is down compared to last year, the world demand for fuel hads gone up - so the prices go up.

 

I will start out by saying you can't start a thread and deliver your opinion as to why you think oil prices are up and then tell anyone who disagrees with your opinion that they can't say anything on the subject because it's "political" and we have to keep politics out of it. Your source material is nothing but political as far as government actions deciding who they want to place the blame on (incorrectly I might add) and ignoring the fact that it's Obama's policies that have put us in this position.

Bigtexan99 had it right when he points out that this is a diversionary tactic. The president's administration is to blame here and all this comes down to is a domestic oil supply problem. As long as we must import the preponderance of our oil that we use in this country from those who openly aren't our allies and many of whom would like us dead, and there's the potential for a war in the middle east with Iran's nuclear weapons program, the real threat of disruption in our oil supply is going to cause anxiety reflected in the price at the pump.

Our inability to meet our own needs for oil (lack of supply) along with the Saudi's in control of the market will not equate to a favorable price for us at the pump. Then you add the rising consumption of oil in China, which the Saudi's are willing to accomodate at our expense, the complete instability in the middle east which I've already pointed out, and our demand for oil (which we should not feel guilty for) spells absolute disaster. I'm not even including the other point that bigtexan99 brought up which is the manipulation of our economy by the incompetent ***** in Obama's administration called QE1 and QE2. When Obama sad he wanted to fundamentally change America, he was not kidding.

Oh, and Dodd-Frank is now nearly universally known now by all thinking Americans to be a complete disaster.

You don't FUNDAMENTALLY change America if you love it and it's founding documents.

Click here to hear the truth. This is not some government produced propaganda called legislation the media dutifully shoves down our throat every day for public consumption. I don't know about all of you but I'm sick of the bullcrap!


Drake

 

I hear the fuel gets better as the price rises. God Bless America!

 

It's amazing how people try to blame the FED, the president and his administration, and supply/demand for the current oil prices.

The fact is that speculation is the biggest driver. Why?

- Global demand is still relatively down.
- Global supply is high.
- Oil pricing is NOT following supply/demand.
- Inflation is relatively low.

The factors are not there to blame the president, supply/demand, or the FED.

Now if anyone doubts this, then go ahead and explain the rapid price increase, and insane price crash, of crude oil back in 2008. Not only that, but explain why global demand during 2008 was dropping, supplies were rising, yet the price of oil was skyrocketing at the same time. Then explain how it is possible, using supply/demand, to have the price go from all-time record highs, down to pricing under $40/barrel... in just a few short months.

Please explain how any of that has to do with administrations, supply/demand, or the FED.

The same drivers that caused the oil price rise from 2000-2008 are the exact same factors that are still in effect today: out-of-control and unregulated speculation. That is the ONLY explanation that can accurately and successfully interpret why oil prices are what we see now, and the oil pricing trends we have seen over the past 10+ years.

 

Damn straight, business as usual. Instead of blaming the Fed Govt the idiots are still pointing fingers at Capitalism.

 

You really believe that? You really believe the govt. CPI number that excludes food and energy?

Have you not noticed the shrinking package sizes of food? Paying the same or slightly higher price for a container that holds 12oz when it used to hold 16oz?

You really believe the govt unemployment number that drops people from the total count after their unemployment benefits expire and they still have no job?

 

Hey Drake...I didn't say a word about why I think oil prices are going up, I didn't give my political opinion either. Here are two clues for you. At the top of my OP is this line: By David Tanner, Land Line associate editor. This means that what follows is his work, not mine. Another hint is the copyright at the bottom of the article. I simply asked Land Line Magazine their permission to use the article here. They gave me permission as long as the article was properly credited and unedited. Please go here and read the original article.

You brought politics into the thread in a declarative manner reminiscent of someone who is so sure of his position he prefaces his argument with his ultimate unspoken position...agree with me or else.

I have been posting this same article from Land Line Magazine (the publishing arm of Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association for a long time...I use to put a "No political comment please" because I was sharing it as an FYI on price trends (some of us actually make our living on diesel fuel). Now I think I ought to just bag it...who needs this. What do you think guys, should I stop posting the weekly fuel price trend article? Anyway if I give it up we have you on this list, anyone who needs to know about fuel prices can just contact you. Not only can you share current prices but you can get their "mind-right" at the same time. I am a blues fan and there is a line: Before you accuse me, you better look at yourself."

Notice that I didn't get into the politics of the issue? It isn't hard....really.

 

Neal,

It's all good. It is always interesting to hear some of the the unbelievable things people believe. Really think you should keep doing this until the upcoming election just so we can keep track of the effect it will have and point it out to the people with blinders on.


"Inflation is relatively low".... would hate to think what they consider high.

 

i am doing my part to reduce demand