President Obama begins task force to monitor oil price fluctuations

The price of oil has increased in the past few months, but the current presidential administration aims to identify reasons to the heightened cost of the fuel source. President Barack Obama recently announced that creation of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which is a working group designed to root out illegal speculation oil markets, Trucking Info reports.

Officials told the news source that the task force will be conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and will assess developments in commodities markets. This includes investor practices, supply and demand factors, the role of speculators as well as index traders in oil futures markets.

"We still have deregulated energy trading markets that provide all sort of incentives to engage in this excessive speculation," Tyson Slocum, director of the Public Citizen Energy Program, told the news source. "I think it is good for the DOJ to do this, but I would be surprised if the bulk of this price increase was because of illegal trading."

Companies may wish to enroll their operators in online truck driving regulation training to help them stay current on the news that impacts their industry, such as oil prices and alternative energy sources.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average diesel price across the U.S. is $4.10 per gallon, which represents a $0.01 decrease from a week ago and a $1.02 increase from last year.

By Mark Priest

President Obama begins task force to monitor oil price fluctuations

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011