Services: Expert Comments/Testimony

On December 11, 2007, Dr. Verleger testified before the Subcommittee on Energy of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security regarding the role of speculation in recent record crude oil prices. In his remarks, he described recent market changes and explored explanations for those changes. In his view, the rising light sweet crude prices at the time resulted from, among other factors, the US DOE removing  a portion of this crude from the market for storage in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, private firms reducing their inventories, and environmental regulations requiring sulfur removal from diesel fuel sold in the US, Canada, and Europe.