Reuters/London
Britain’s energy watchdog Ofgem has broadened its investigation of gas and power price manipulation, following allegations made by a whistleblower last year, including the role played by price reporting agencies, it said yesterday. “We are...looking at the issue of price manipulation more broadly and the role of price reporting agencies in respect of the gas and electricity markets,” Ofgem said.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Ofgem began investigating allegations made by a whistleblower in September 2012 that traders manipulated wholesale prices in Britain, Europe’s biggest gas market.
The probe focused on a set of gas prices on September 28 as reported by ICIS Heren, which sets influential gas benchmarks used to underpin long-term gas supply deals. ICIS Heren also independently raised concerns about irregular trading on that day to Ofgem.
The watchdog, without giving further details, made the announcement as it outlined broader enforcement powers for itself to tackle abuse in wholesale energy markets due to take effect later this month. Ofgem’s investigation comes on the same day that EU regulators published guidelines to stop banks rigging Libor and other market benchmarks in an interim measure before a more far-reaching EU law comes in.
In an annex to the draft law, the EU said it will set out a tougher regime for commodities benchmarks.
Last month EU investigators launched a probe into benchmarks used for crude oil and refined products and ethanol after raiding the London office of price reporting agency Platts and oil companies Statoil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP.
