WASHINGTON, March 15 (UPI) -- An Iranian news agency may have reported falsely on an oil pipeline explosion in Saudi Arabia to manipulate market prices, a U.S. lawmaker said.
Saudi authorities denied the accuracy of a March 1 report from Iran's state-funded broadcaster Press TV stating there had been an explosion on an oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia. The Press TV report, however, was blamed a $3-per-barrel spike in crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"The price of oil had been falling that day (March 1) but the rumor of the pipeline explosion made it possible for some parties to sell their oil supplies at a higher price than the market otherwise would have paid," said U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, in a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Markey noted that some commentators suggested the Press TV report was an effort by Iran to manipulate oil markets.
Markey asked how vulnerable oil markets are to false rumors and trading activity spurred by those rumors.
"Are you concerned that foreign governments or other rogue elements can cause prices spikes in our energy commodities?" he asked in his letter.
Oil prices had already increased in part because of geopolitical tensions with Iran. Tehran had threatened to close oil shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz if pressured further by Western powers.
