The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "oil prices" ...
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Excessive Speculation Distorts Commodity Markets, Harms Consumers
The topic of our series was excessive financial speculation in commodity markets. Throughout one year, I worked on a series of labor-intensive investigative pieces showing how the influx of financial speculators in the futures market had distorted the price of crude oil, coffee, cotton and other commodities.
Tags: fiancial speculation; commodity markets; crude oil; commodities
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Excessive Speculation Distorts Commodity Markets, Harms Consumers
The topic of our series was excessive financial speculation in commodity markets. Throughout one year, I worked on a series of labor-intensive investigative pieces showing how the influx of financial speculators in the futures market had distorted the price of crude oil, coffee, cotton and other commodities.
Tags: fiancial speculation; commodity markets; crude oil; commodities
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Dark Market
"The story examined 30 percent of the commodity futures markets for oil that trade without regulation. We examined how these markets may have played a role in bumping up the price of oil over the summer of 2008."
Tags: gasoline; Intercontinental Exchange; ICE; Trading Commission; barrel; premium price;
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Gas price Secrets Revealed
Using daily retail prices at more than 700 stations for two months in the Greater Cincinnati area obtained through years of diligent sourcing, we were able to prove or disprove several "myths" about how street prices are set. Some findings include: which chain was the market leader for retail gas; individual retailers lost money on gas even when prices hit $4; the day of the week when gas was cheapest and most expensive; which communities had the most expensive and cheapest gas.
Tags: gas; oil; inflation; gas prices; oil price information service; mapping
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Are you getting greased at Heartland Jiffy Lubes?
Heartland Automotive Jiffy Lubes were found to be selling two oils to customers for different prices. Yet when tested, the I-Team found that the oils had the same properties. ConocoPhillips, the supplier of the more expensive oil, said that Jiffy Lube had known this for sometime. In a later investigation the I-Team found that Heartland Jiffy Lubes sold washer fluid contained no methanol to prevent freezing, despite calling it their “winter blend.†It had simply been died blue by order of the Heartland.
Tags: Jiffy Lube; Heartland; oil; consumer; ConocoPhillips; washer fluid; fraud; deception
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Hot Fuel
While fuel expands when it gets hot, retail pumps are not making a price adjustment to compensate for the energy lost by using hotter fuel. A century ago, the oil industry set a standard of 60 degrees for fuel temperature, and the Star found that gas in the United States is on average five degrees higher than this. At every level of distribution, a price adjustment is made to compensate for the expanding fuel, but not at the consumer pump itself. "The cost to consumers, by not equipping retail pumps to adjust for temperature, is $2.3 billion per year while state and federal governments lose hundreds of millions of dollars annually in fuel taxes."
Tags: Fuel; hot fuel; gas prices; taxes; price adjustments; 60-degree fuel standard
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The Big Squeeze By Big Oil and Coffeyville Plant Brews Oil, Profits
For years, many have suspected that the oil industry has been shutting down refineries for the sake of putting a squeeze on the market. Shutting down refineries and reducing available supplies and materials has helped to drive up gas prices and demolish available jobs. This investigation goes deeper to discover the truth behind rising gas prices.
Tags: oil; refineries; gas prices; refinery capacity; supplies; American Petroleum Institute; Total oil refinery; Coffeyville Plant
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Flying Gas Prices: The Shell Game
This investigation uncovered an oil company scandal: Shell Oil Company was planning to close a refinery, even though it was making big profits. The investigation found that, even though Shell Oil claimed the oil field was tapped out, the real motivation for the closure was to fix oil prices.
Tags: oil; petroleum; whistleblower; gas; corporate documents; business reporting; monopoly
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The Politics of Petroleum
In recent times U.S. search for oil outside the volatile Middle East has led them to Kazakhstan and other countries around the Caspian Sea. This story looks at the government in Kazakhstan and the regime which has a controversial record of human rights violation corruption. As this story reveals, millions of dollars paid as fees by American firms goes to offshore accounts controlled by top Kazakh officials.
Tags: oil; petroleum; Kazakhstan; U.S. search for oil outside the Middle East; Caspian sea; oil prices
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Series of Stories on U.S. Energy Policy
These stories from Time magazine look at an energy crisis that the U.S. is likely to face. The story reveals that for three decades, the government has not adopted or stuck to any significant energy policy. Subsequent government policies have in fact been marked by sharp reversals of the previous ones.
Tags: Energy; Energy crisis; Government policies; energy bills; oil prices; gas prices; consumption of electricity