FTC Investigates Oil Price Manipulation

Oil prices are at it again. In June 2011 rates have dropped almost 20 percents from the $114 high that it touched 4 months earlier. Going by the current trades, oil prices are hovering slightly below $98 as we enter the third quarter of 2011. The media, scrambling for an explanation it seems, has been quick to attribute these rapid fluctuations in oil price to the unrest in the Middle East and natural calamities across the globe such as the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. But the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) begs to differ. In fact, extreme fluctuations in oil prices over the last few months have led the Federal Trade Commission to launch a full-fledge investigation into the oil and gas markets.culled from oil-price.net