Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden has recommended that the Justice Department take part in a European Union (EU)-launched probe in relation to oil price manipulation by Shell, BP and Statoil.
The senator, in a letter written to Attorney General Eric Holder, said that the US Government should join the investigation in order to find out whether alleged price fixing in Europe has impacted fuel prices for American consumers.
Wyden was quoted by Reuters as saying: "Efforts to manipulate the European oil indices, if proven, may have already impacted US consumers and businesses, because of the interrelationships among world oil markets and hedging practices."
"These effects on American business make it imperative that your task force investigate whether any firms … may be using false information to manipulate oil prices here or abroad," Wyden added.
The Justice Department said it was reviewing the senator’s recommendation.
Investigators from the European Commission (EC) have carried out raids at BP’s offices in Canary Wharf and Shell’s offices in central London and Rotterdam last week, as part of a probe into alleged price fixing in Europe.
Raids were also conducted at the London office of price-reporting agency Platts and the Stavenger office of Norway’s Statoil.
Prices reported by agencies such as Platts are used as the benchmarks for trade in a huge number of products, including the petrol price.
In a statement, EC said: "Investigators carried out unannounced inspections at the premises of several companies active in and providing services to the crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels sectors."
"The Commission has concerns that the companies may have colluded … to manipulate the published prices for a number of oil and biofuel products."
All the three oil companies have said that they are cooperating with investigators.
Image: Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Ron Wyden. Photo courtesy of United States Senate.
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