Oil markets heavily traded by speculators

And article is out in the Wall Street Journal on oil markets.

Corporations, Foreign Funds Appear on List of Investors During Oil’s Peak

The world of oil investors reached far beyond Wall Street in recent years as foreign pension funds, corporate icons and even an Ivy League endowment placed big wagers on oil prices, according to a list compiled by U.S. regulators.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission list shows that just before crude prices reached record highs in 2008, investments tied to millions of barrels of oil were held by a diverse group of at least 219 investors.

The CFTC never identified specific investors publicly, but The Wall Street Journal recently reviewed the list. It offers a rare glimpse of the secretive world of oil trading, where buying and selling often takes place away from public markets.

The list could fuel calls for a crackdown on oil speculators, a label critics apply to those who trade in oil but don’t use or produce it.

Banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS – News) and Morgan Stanley (MS – News), which have long played a central role in oil trading, dominate the list. Also featured prominently are producers and consumers such as BP PLC (BP – News) and Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL – News), which buy and sell large amounts of oil products.

A range of investors were in the market, too. Yale University, Singapore’s government, hedge funds Brevan Howard and D.E. Shaw & Co., as well as pension funds for Texas teachers and Danish workers all held positions, according to the list.

Also featured were a handful of individuals, including Aubrey McClendon, chief executive of Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK – News), one of the nation’s largest producers of natural gas. Cascade Investment LLC, the investment arm for Microsoft Corp. (MSFT – News) co-founder Bill Gates, appeared.