Oversight

In an interview this week, former Minerals Management Service (MMS) director Johnnie Burton defended the agency’s oversight and inspections of oil and natural gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico during her tenure.

As some municipalities and environmental groups step up a call for stricter oversight of natural gas drilling in the Barnett Shale, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) last week launched a website to distribute information about air pollution testing in the North Texas gas play.

As some municipalities and environmental groups step up a call for stricter oversight of natural gas drilling in the Barnett Shale, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) this week launched a website to distribute information about air pollution testing in the North Texas gas play.

Having already pulled the Henry Hub look-alike contract traded on IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) under its regulatory oversight authority, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last Monday issued a Notice of Intent to consider whether 13 other natural gas contracts and 11 power contracts offered by ICE should receive similar treatment.

Having already pulled the Henry Hub look-alike contract traded on IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) under its regulatory oversight authority, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Monday issued a Notice of Intent to consider whether 13 other natural gas contracts and 11 power contracts offered by ICE should receive similar treatment.

Steven Schoenfeld, a long-time futures trader, has been named director of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Market Oversight (DMO), succeeding Richard Shilts. Shilts, who has been DMO director since February 2006 and at the CFTC since 1974, will now become deputy director. Schoenfeld currently is president of consulting firm Global Index Strategies. Prior to Global Index, Schoenfeld was chief investment officer of Global Quantitative Management at Northern Trust; managing director at Barclays Global Investors; investment officer at the International Finance Corp./World Bank; and a futures trader at the Singapore Exchange. He has worked with futures and stock exchanges worldwide, including Tokyo, Paris, London, Hong Kong, Tel Aviv, Bangkok and Budapest. He will be moving to Washington, DC, from New York. The DMO handles the designation of new markets, the review of new futures and option products, the monitoring for and detection of market manipulation, and the protection of customers from market abuses.

Federal regulators’ oversight of over-the-counter (OTC) energy futures would deepen significantly under a sweeping financial regulatory reform plan unveiled by President Obama last Wednesday.

Federal regulators’ oversight of over-the-counter (OTC) energy futures would deepen significantly under a sweeping financial regulatory reform plan unveiled by President Obama Wednesday.

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and John Barrasso (R-WY) last Thursday introduced bipartisan legislation (S. 3556) that seeks to increase the oversight and accountability of the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) following the disclosure earlier this month of illegal and unseemly behavior of former employees at the agency.