Meno di un minuto

Leading world experts debate on the financial speculation in the oil market and its effects on the price of oil. We here report the interview held on that occasion with Thomas F. Helbling, Head of Energy and Commodities Surveillance Unit Research Department, International Monetary Fund.

On January 13-13, 2012, FEEM organized a brainstorming workshop on “Financial Speculation in the Oil Market and the Determinants of the Oil Price” gathering together leading scholars in the field of energy economics and top professionals from international financial and energy institutions to discuss the definition and role of speculation in the oil derivatives market over the last two decades.

The meeting was attended by a selected audience from the Italian and international economic, financial, academic and political community, and  some of the experts who participated in the workshop were interviewed to investigate issues such as:

  • the relationship between financial trading activity and futures price volatility in the oil market;
  • the relationship between volume/open interest and different definitions of volatility;
  • the long-run causes of volatility of the oil price;
  • the impact of speculation on spot and futures oil prices, and on oil price volatility.
  • the determinants of the oil price;
  • the transmission mechanism through which structural shocks affect the oil price;
  • the effects of oil price shocks on the global economy;
  • the effects of speculative shocks on the oil price;
  • the role of financial institutions in limiting excessive speculation.

We here report the interview held on that occasion with Thomas F. Helbling, Head of Energy and Commodities Surveillance Unit Research Department, International Monetary Fund.