BP Plc, Statoil and Royal Dutch Shell Plcwere named in a lawsuit accusing them of manipulating the price of North Sea Brent crude oil and futures contracts. Smith claimed the oil companies violated U.S. antitrust law and the Commodity Exchange Act. He is seeking unspecified damages, which may be tripled under antitrust law.
BP, Shell, Statoil Sued Over Claim of Oil Price Manipulation
By Bob Van Voris: June 10, 2013
BP Plc (BP/), Statoil ASA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) were named in a lawsuit accusing them of manipulating the price of North Sea Brent crude oil and futures contracts.
Gregory Smith, a Texas trader who claims he overpaid for Brent crude oil futures, sued the oil companies in Manhattan federal court today. Smith claimed the companies intentionally reported false prices to Platts, a division of McGraw Hill Financial Inc. (MHFI), which publishes benchmark prices for the oil industry.
Smith is seeking to represent a class of all investors who bought or sold Brent crude oil futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange or the IntercontinentalExchange from 2002 to the present. A similar case was filed in Manhattan federal court May 28.
Smith claimed the oil companies violated U.S. antitrust law and the Commodity Exchange Act. He is seeking unspecified damages, which may be tripled under antitrust law.
European Union antitrust regulators raided the offices of Platts, BP, Shell and Statoil beginning May 14 to investigate possible price manipulation and collusion by traders.
An e-mail message to BP’s press office wasn’t immediately returned. Phone messages to Shell’s press office and to Jannik Lindbaek Jr., a Statoil spokesman, weren’t immediatetly returned.
Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, competes with Platts and other companies in providing energy market news and information.
The case is Smith v. BP Plc, 13-cv-03944, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Van Voris in New York at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at [email protected]
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
