Col. Rayburn Talks Iran Military Strategy

Retired Col. Joel Rayburn joins "Bloomberg This Weekend" to discuss the danger for American residents and diplomats overseas after an overnight attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad. The Trump administration has discussed trading in the oil futures market as a strategy to help curb surging crude prices amid the war in Iran, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said.

Burgum, however, said he wasn’t aware whether the US had actually intervened in the market at this point.

“I would say there has been a discussion. We have a lot of smart people working in this administration — a lot of smart people work in the energy trading market,” Burgum said during an interview with Bloomberg Television in Tokyo on Saturday. “An intervention to try to manipulate and lower prices would require enormous amounts of capital. That is all I will say on that front.”

His comments come as US and Israeli attacks on Iran continue to upend the global energy landscape, trapping millions of barrels of oil in the Persian Gulf, with the Strait of Hormuz effectively blocked.

Global crude futures have surged more than 40% in the nearly two weeks since the conflict began, driving US gasoline prices to their highest level in 22 months. Brent crude settled above $100 a barrel for the second straight day, ending Friday at the highest level in more than three years.

The head of the company that oversees the trading of West Texas Intermediate US oil futures has warned it would be a “biblical disaster” for the federal government to start trading derivatives as a way to lower crude prices.

“Markets do not like when governments intervene” in market pricing, Terry Duffy, chief executive officer of CME Group Inc., said at a conference in Boca Raton, Florida, this week.

Burgum, who is in Tokyo ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s March 19 visit to Washington, will attend the first-ever US-sponsored Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum this weekend. The event comes as the White House pushes to reduce US dependence on China and diversify supply chains for critical minerals used in mobile phones, batteries and other products. The US is also pitching American oil, gas and coal as secure, reliable energy supplies to Asian and Pacific allies.

Read More: Asia Set to Pledge $30 Billion in Energy, Mineral Deals With US

Separately, Burgum said that while it’s been discussed, any kind of Treasury intervention is lower on the administration’s list of possible moves to mitigate the surge in oil prices, below other options. He declined to specify what those other possibilities might be.

The US government has already taken other steps in a bid to stabilize energy markets. This week, the nation issued its second temporary waiver for the purchase of sanctioned Russian oil. The latest measure, which is for crude loaded onto vessels before March 12, is broader than a directive earlier this month that only cleared India to boost buying.

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