Statoil fined for attempted market manipulation
Statoil has been given a $ 4 million fine in the US after attempting to manipulate the index that controls the price of propane.
It is the US Commodity Futures Trading Commision (CFTC), which Tuesday announced that it was fining the Norwegian oil giant.
The manipulations addressed supposedly took place from October to November 2011, as Statoil suffered a loss in its LPG division. Statoil has attempted to manipulate the propane index – Argus Far East Index – to gain a profit on its physical and financial positions, including New York-trusted swap agreements linked to the Argus Index, according to E24.
In e-mails, CFTC found evidence that Statoil attempted to push the price of propane upwards, but that the attempt did not succeed because the company did not purchase sufficient supplies to affect the price.
Statoil claims collaboration
A spokesperson for Statoil refers to the CFTC reaction as a settlement and says that the company has collaborated with CFTC to resolve the matter.
– Manipulations in the market prevent free and fair competition and slow economic growth down. As this case shows, we will work tirelessly to eradicate manipulation, wherever it happens, to ensure market players are confident they compete on equal terms, says James McDonald, CFD Investigation Division, in a statement.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
