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Drilling off the coast of California, Florida and elsewhere would increase domestic oil production by 7 percent by 2030, according to the Energy Information Administration. But “because oil prices are determined on the international market…any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.” There is no short-term benefit to drilling, says the EIA, because it would take at least five years for oil production to begin. (Source: Center for American Progress.)

LONDON: London's Brent crude oil hit 146 dollars a barrel for the first time on Thursday, as traders reacted to Middle East tensions, falling US crude reserves and the weak dollar. Brent North Sea oil for August delivery surged to a life-time peak of 146.34 dollars. New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for August delivery, meanwhile surged past 145 for the first time to reach an all-time pinnacle of 145.43 dollars a barrel. Analysts said a weaker US dollar, and data that revealed a drop in stockpiles of US crude, helped push prices higher. The US Energy Information...

<p>Before the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission starts scrutinizing the role that speculators may have played in driving up fuel and food prices, investigators may want to take a look at price swings in a commodity not in today's news: onions.</p>

Sen. Obama's plan to attack the "oil speculators" who are "driving" up the price of oil by regulating futures contracts on American oil may not be pandering (America certainly cannot, for example, regulate oil futures on Nigerian crude in Switzerland), but it is sure close, and here is why, and I'm sure all those people who helped him draw up this plan know it.

(remember all those "speculators"?...)

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- "Make no mistake about it," U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said Monday while chairing a meeting of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. "Excessive speculation in commodity markets is having a devastating effect at the gas pump that is rippling through our entire economy." Here's a suggestion: The next time a Congressional committee wants to hold a hearing on how "speculators" are driving up oil prices, each committee member should first be required to demonstrate - preferably in their opening remarks - a basic understanding of the mechanics of futures trading. Even...

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly approved legislation that directs the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to use all its authority, including the agency's emergency powers, to "curb immediately" the role of excessive speculation in energy futures markets. Hedge funds, pension funds and other speculators have been blamed by many lawmakers and some energy experts for doubling the price for crude oil in the last year. The Bush administration disagrees, saying high prices are the result of world oil production not being able to keep up with growing global fuel demand. The bill easily cleared the House in a...

WASHINGTON — Growing global demand for oil and the fear of supply disruptions have created a "shortage psychology" that is helping keep fuel prices high, a leading energy analyst told Congress on Wednesday. Many speculators now are convinced the world is "running out of oil," energy expert Daniel Yergin told a Joint Economic Committee hearing. "As prices go up, this psychology becomes self-reinforcing," sending prices higher still - at least, until consumption patterns change dramatically. "We are in an oil shock," said Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a consulting firm. "Four years ago, oil was around $40 a...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil expert Daniel Yergin will tell Congress on Wednesday that speculative oil traders have played a role in driving up prices but other factors, such as the subprime mortgage crisis, have also been a factor.

"I believe there needs to be a thorough and complete investigation of speculators to find out whether speculation has been going on and, if so, how much it has affected the price of a barrel of oil. There's a lot of things out there that need a lot more transparency and, consequently, oversight." Those are the words of presidential candidate John McCain. This man is the Republican? There's more. "I am very angry, frankly, at the oil companies not only because of the obscene profits they've made but at their failure to invest in alternate energy to help us eliminate...

In today’s Guest Blog spot, I decided to contact Chuck E. Cash from Forex-Trading-School.com. I wanted to get his thoughts and insight on what he thought about the current commodity markets, with Crude and Gasoline as the specific targets. Take a look below and enjoy! ========================================================= It’s hard not to notice the rally cries coming out of the political parties lately. Each side has their “solution” for the energy problem. The left wants windfall profit taxes and investigations. The right wants a tax holiday and more drilling. Lately I’ve been wondering, are the spat of energy ETFs partly to blame?...

The chart above shows that open interest (volume) for crude oil futures contracts declined by more than 16% since last November, and yet oil prices kept going up. Less oil futures trading, less speculation, but higher oil prices? Isn't is supposed to be the other way around?

SEN. John McCain recently called for a "thorough and complete investigation of speculators" to see if they've driven up oil prices. And Senate Democrats plan a new bill aimed at commodity speculators - a witch hunt that's clearly about oil. But, much as politicians would like to blame speculators, it's just not so. For starters, there's nothing about futures or options that makes it any more attractive to bet that commodity prices will go up than to bet they'll go down. Guess wrong on the direction, and you lose money. The "blame speculators" theorists have several worries. Investors in oil...

The stock market plunged 170 points this morning and oil jumped over $3, allegedly based on a New York Times story that Israel is carrying out military exercises as a rehearsal to bombing Iran. But actually, the Times story, written by the very able war correspondent Michael R. Gordon, is talking about Israeli training exercises from early June, not now. ItÂ’s a rehash story with some new details. And it does in fact confirm the market rumors of June 5 and 6 that Israel was planning an Iranian attack to stop the rogue stateÂ’s nuclear-weapons program. Recall that oil jumped...

US regulators have announced plans to impose limits on oil trades overseas. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said the London-based electronic exchange would have to comply with US rules. The move comes as oil prices notch up record highs, amid fears that speculators are distorting the market. As a result, fuel costs have shot up hitting the global economy. Airlines have been hit badly, with near record losses expected for 2008 in the US. US airlines were forecast to report $10bn (£5bn) of losses this financial year as sky-high fuel costs erode profits, according to the industry group Air...

Surging oil prices have often sent stock markets tumbling this year when, according to one view, investors should embrace rising energy costs because they boost the bottom line of many large-cap U.S. companies. The energy sector is now the largest earnings contributor to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX, Wall Street's benchmark for corporate America's profitability, said David Bianco, head of U.S. equity strategy at investment bank UBS in New York. Many investors see the rise in crude prices as a negative because of its potential impact on economic growth and the wallets of American consumers. That view, however,...

With oil prices closing above $125 a barrel of oil on Friday, angry politicians are blaming the higher prices on everything from speculators to greedy oil companies. Last week some Democratic Senators demanded “urgent action . . . to adequately investigate whether speculators are driving up prices.” Democrats are proposing to protect the American people from “greedy oil traders who manipulate the market.” Senator Barack Obama wants price gouging by oil companies to be a federal crime. Everyone wants lower prices, but many politicians seem unable to understand that speculators actually smooth out wild swings in prices. Speculators make profits...

Crude Oil Prices Could Be Easily Manipulated; Helped By Ridiculously Low 7% Margin Requirement for Oil Futures. We Don't Know That Oil Prices Are Being Manipulated, But They Could. The ridiculously low 7% margin requirement for crude oil futures contracts means that oil producers, big or small, could easily be manipulating the price of oil for their own benefit. That's not to say that pension funds and other hedge players aren't also going steadily long crude oil and other commodity futures. But it is in the obvious self interest of oil producers to have an ever rising price of crude....

WASHINGTON, May 23 (Reuters) - Significantly raising margin requirements on oil futures trading at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NMX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) would not rein in speculative investors and bring down crude prices, U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said on Friday. Many U.S. lawmakers blame hedge funds, pension fund managers and other speculative investors for pushing up prices for crude oil and other commodities to record levels. "I don't think that the margin requirements per se are going to have any impact on it," Bodman said in an interview on CNBC television. Legislation is pending in the U.S. Senate...

Banks, hedge funds and other financial institutions could find their investment strategies curtailed by the Federal Reserve to reduce the risk to the economy from asset bubbles, the US Treasury said on Tuesday. David Nason, the assistant secretary for financial institutions, said the US central bank should use its proposed new powers as a stability regulator to “lean against the wind” by forcing institutions to change their investment strategy if it judged they threatened the wider economy.