For the week to Feb 27, crude futures overall displayed a more bullish outlook for a third consecutive week. Despite speculators in Brent being more bearish with a rise in shorts working in tandem with a decrease in longs, WTI futures portrayed a greater bullish stance amid added length and liquidated short positions.
As a consequence, crude net positioning rose by 21mbbls (+5%) to just under 420mbbls. This is the most positive net positioning value since early Oct’23, when Brent and WTI prices were in the $90/bbl handles.
Despite the geopolitical narrative fatiguing by the day, it looks to have kept prices supported, although lacking any real sense of direction. It will be interesting to monitor the positioning changes to come, aiding to give an indication of where next for price action.
