NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has rearranged the way it accounts for large trader positions in energy markets amid public concern that speculators are helping drive up oil prices.
The U.S. futures market regulator said Friday that its closely watched Commitments of Traders report, which takes a weekly snapshot of the buying or selling positions in major markets including crude oil, gasoline and natural gas on the New York Mercantile Exchange, will account for trading positions held by commercial oil producers and users and speculators in a different way.
"Effective with this week's Commitments of Traders (COT) report, the commission staff has reclassified certain positions in the energy futures and options markets from the commercial category to the noncommercial category," the CFTC said in a statement on its Web site. Noncommercial traders are typically large speculators such as hedge funds.
The CFTC's move comes amid furious debate on whether hedge funds, pension funds and other institutional investors have pushed up the price of oil. Congress is contemplating a raft of measures meant to limit speculators' participation in the energy markets in hopes of bringing prices down.
Some lawmakers have voiced concern that institutional investors that track commodity indexes such as the S&P GSCI have been misclassified as commercial energy traders. In May, the CFTC issued a "special call" to energy traders, requiring them to provide the agency with monthly reports of their index trading.
In its announcement Friday, the CFTC said information provided as part of a commission special call led to the "reclassification of certain positions because commercial hedging or risk management activities did not constitute a significant part of the overall trading activity."
A CFTC representative was not immediately available for comment.
In the case of Nymex crude futures, the new data format appeared to show a decrease of close to 150,000 contracts each in long and short commercial open interest, and an increase of about 150,000 contracts in spread positions held by large speculators, in the week ended July 15.
Source: Gregory Meyer, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4377; greg.meyer@dowjones.com