The surprise is that it took so long to open an oil price probe

The vulnerability of crude oil price assessments to fixing is an open secret, writes Robert Campbell.

THE vulnerability of physical crude price assessments to manipulation is an open secret within the oil industry. The surprise, perhaps, is that it took regulators so long to open a formal probe.

Nevertheless, the revelation that the EU raided the offices of oil majors BP, Shell and Statoil on Tuesday in connection with an investigation into alleged oil price manipulation has sent shockwaves into the broader market.