Hedge funds and other money managers have only the equivalent of 3 million barrels in the six most important petroleum futures and options contracts in the week up to Nov 21, according to a report by Reuters.
According to the report, investors are suspcious about the outlook for crude oil prices as OPEC+ is likely to cut production enough to offset rising non-OPEC output and a deteriorating economic outlook. The report also noted that the combined position in crude had been reduced to just 225 million barrels, which is within 20 million barrels of the record low in a time series that goes back to 2013.
The position in NYMEX and ICE WTI was especially low at just 70 million barrels (2nd percentile for all weeks since 2013) as U.S. oil production continues to climb, the report added.
