Skyrocketing

Driven by skyrocketing oil prices and howls of business and consumer pain heading into the November election, the Senate is expected to take up major legislation Tuesday designed to limit energy futures market speculation, which has been billed as one of the major causes of the high prices.

Less than a month after announcing that skyrocketing energy, feedstock and transportation costs were forcing the company to raise the price of all of its products by up to 20%, chemical manufacturing giant Dow Chemical Co. said last week that the continued “relentless rise” in costs is forcing it to raise the price of its products by as much as an additional 25% in July. The company also urged Congress to rein in energy markets and focus on sound energy policy going forward.

Less than a month after announcing that skyrocketing energy, feedstock and transportation costs were forcing the company to raise the price of all of its products by up to 20%, chemical manufacturing giant Dow Chemical Co. said Tuesday that the continued “relentless rise” in costs is forcing it to raise the price of its products by as much as an additional 25% in July. The company also urged Congress to rein in energy markets and focus on sound energy policy going forward.

As a congressional committee zeroed in on skyrocketing oil prices, leveling accusations of excessive speculation, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last week announced that its staff has amended the “no-action relief letter” under which ICE Futures Europe is permitted direct access to U.S. customers. The change requires the adoption of equivalent U.S. position limits and accountability levels on its West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil contract, which is linked to the Nymex crude oil contract.

As a congressional committee zeroed in on skyrocketing oil prices, leveling accusations of excessive speculation, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that its staff has amended the “no-action relief letter” under which ICE Futures Europe is permitted direct access to U.S. customers. The change requires the adoption of equivalent U.S. position limits and accountability levels on its West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil contract, which is linked to the Nymex crude oil contract.

Responding to the skyrocketing energy prices of the last several months, some of the larger global industrials began showing the strain last week as they announced price hikes across their entire product lines. Just one day after Dow Chemical Corp. reported product price hikes due to higher commodity, feedstock and transportation costs, Huntsman Corp. followed suit.

Profits in the oil and natural gas industry are skyrocketing, but the pressure to keep share prices rising has crushed new field exploration and escalated merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, a trend that is expected to continue this year, the chairman of John S. Herold said Tuesday.

Profits in the oil and natural gas industry are skyrocketing, but the pressure to keep share prices rising has crushed new field exploration and escalated merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, a trend that is expected to continue this year, the chairman of John S. Herold said Tuesday.

Florida’s two senators introduced legislation last week that was billed as a compromise with the energy industry — it would establish a permanent no-drilling zone in much of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to shield Florida and a military training area from energy production, and would make a limited amount of additional acreage in the natural gas-prone Lease Sale 181 available to producers.