Some of French oil company Total SA’s transactions in the US are under investigation by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the company is in talks to settle the matter, according to company officials. The existence of the CFTC probe emerged after a separate US agency, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, released a notice accusing a Total subsidiary of making money-losing gas purchases intended to move prices in a way that helped it make profits on other trading positions on at least 38 occasions in the southwestern US, Market Watch reported. Asked about the FERC probe in an interview, Total Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne dismissed the allegations, saying the company was settling similar allegations by the CFTC “for a few million dollars”. Total is among the world’s largest oil producers but also has a sizable trading arm that buys and sells everything from crude to refined products and petrochemicals. In the US, it has been a player in physical and financial natural gas markets for 25 years.
