For the week to Mar 12, the crude futures witnessed an atmosphere of bearishness from money managers. Total long positions in Brent and WTI declined by 12.5mbbls (-2.40%) whilst total short positions climbed by 3.5mbbls (+3.04%).
As a result, total net positioning softened for the second consecutive week with this week noting a 16mbbls decline (-3.96% w-o-w).
Price action for both crude benchmarks lacked inspiration this week with both contracts remaining largely rangebound through the week although ending it weaker.
Despite this, open interest surged up in both Brent and WTI – perhaps due to an observed rise in activity by other players such as prod/merc participants, who added to their combined longs and shorts by over 76mbbls each.
