From The Fox Street Journal

Speculative traders' interest in crude oil has grown to the point that they now account for roughly 70% of all trading in West Texas Intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange, compared with 37% in 2000, according to an investigation by a congressional subcommittee that forms part of an escalating political assault on Wall Street's role in the run-up in oil prices.

The subcommittee's findings, based on data obtained from federal commodity-futures regulators, are the latest sign that Washington is gearing up to try to limit the role of hedge funds, investment banks and other speculative traders in the oil markets. ...

The main targets of critics of speculative oil trading are pension funds and investment banks that never take physical custody of oil, but instead invest in oil futures contracts as a way to hedge against inflation and diversify their portfolios. In recent weeks, the federal agency charged with regulating commodity trades -- the Commodity Futures Trading Commission -- has begun to gather more data on unregulated trading of oil. Last week, it announced it would require the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange to adopt limits used in the U.S. for trading positions in the West Texas Intermediate crude-oil contract.