PVM names rogue trader Steve Perkins

By David Sheppard

LONDON (Reuters) - PVM Oil Futures Limited said on Friday Steve Perkins, a senior broker based at the firm's London office, was responsible for unauthorised trades earlier this week which landed the firm with a loss of nearly $10 million (6.1 million pounds).

The London-based brokerage said Perkins had taken the positions in Brent crude futures early on Tuesday.

The heavy buying during the Asian trading day when volumes tend to be lower caused global crude prices to spike to their highest level this year. Traders and analysts initially struggled to explain the price move.

Brent was trading at about $66 a barrel on Friday, down from the high of $73.50 struck on Tuesday.

After discovering the trades, PVM said in a statement on Thursday it had closed them out "in an orderly fashion," resulting in losses approaching $10 million.

It said its brokers were not authorised to take positions in the crude oil markets. Oil brokers generally help to match up trading counter-parties such as banks and hedge funds rather than dealing themselves.

PVM confirmed Perkins was a Brent crude futures broker, but declined to discuss his possible motivation for the unauthorised trades.

The brokerage said on Thursday PVM was conducting a full investigation and it had informed the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Britain's regulatory body, as well as the InterContinental Exchange (ICE), where the majority of Brent futures trade takes place.