In the week ending 18 Mar, combined open interest (OI) across both Brent and WTI futures increased more than 3x the previous week. Combined OI rose by 71.8mb (+1.66% w/w). This is the largest increase in OI for Brent + WTI for 10 weeks. Interestingly, WTI has seen reductions in total OI for the past two weeks and Brent has seen two additions. The May’25 Brent contract rose from sub-$70.00/bbl on 11 Mar to fail to maintain strength of around $72.00/bbl on 18 Mar before it closed at below $80.40/bbl as Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to halt strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure for 30 days.
