Список проголосовавших за комментарий " <p>By Chris Prentice<br/> WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) — The founder of Continental<br/> Resources Inc, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump,<br/> is pressing the U.S. commodity markets regulator and the<br/> exchange to probe whether market manipulation or system failure<br/> was behind this week's unprecedented plunge in U.S. crude<br/> futures.<br/> Continental's executive chairman Harold Hamm sent a letter<br/> dated Tuesday, April 21, to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading<br/> Commission asking the regulator to probe whether «potential<br/> market manipulation, failed systems or computer programming<br/> failures» was behind Monday's price crash, which took U.S. oil<br/> futures into negative territory for the first time.<br/> U.S. crude futures for May delivery plunged below zero on<br/> Monday, with desperate traders at one point paying customers<br/> some $40 a barrel to take oil so they would not have to accept<br/> delivery on an expiring futures contract. The coronavirus<br/> pandemic has slashed fuel demand worldwide, and storage space<br/> for the unused oil is rapidly filling, especially in the United<br/> States. <br/> The unprecedented activity stunned global energy traders and<br/> prompted calls from some for further government support of the<br/> beleaguered U.S. industry. <br/> «The sanctity and trust in the oil and all commodity futures<br/> markets are at issue as the system failed miserably and an<br/> immediate investigation is requested and, we submit, is<br/> required,» Hamm said in the letter in which he detailed the<br/> unusual activity.<br/> Continental has also filed a complaint with CME, Hamm said<br/> in the letter.<br/> CME, which operates the U.S. crude oil futures benchmark,<br/> called Hamm's allegations «factually inaccurate» and said<br/> «prices reflect fundamentals in the physical crude oil market<br/> driven by the unprecedented global impacts of the coronavirus,<br/> including decreased demand for crude, global oversupply, and<br/> high levels of U.S. storage utilization.» <br/> A CFTC spokesman declined to comment on any investigation,<br/> but told Reuters: «We continue to look at these developments<br/> closely.»<br/> The agency's chairman Heath Tarbert on Tuesday said the<br/> volatility in oil prices is due to fundamental supply and demand<br/> issues, not a financial markets issue. <br/> Continental Resources, which Hamm founded in 1967, is highly<br/> exposed to the oil market rout because the North Dakota shale<br/> producer had not hedged its production heading into this year's<br/> historic rout, Reuters reported last month. <br/> Prior to Monday's unprecedented trading, crude oil <br/> prices had already plunged more than 70% this year, hit by a<br/> surprise price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia as well as<br/> the slowdown in demand due to the coronavirus outbreak.<br/> The letter, which was first reported by The Oklahoman, is<br/> believed to be the first request to the CFTC to probe Monday's<br/> trade. <br/> Hamm, who last year stepped down as Continental's Chief<br/> Executive, was an informal campaign advisor to Trump in 2016 and<br/> was once considered by Trump as a candidate for U.S. Energy<br/> Secretary.</p>"