Hedge funds and other investors are adopting an increasingly bullish stance on oil prices as Saudi Arabia and its OPEC allies continue to restrict production amid rising demand and the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
The equivalent of 37m barrels in the six most important petroleum-related futures and options contract were purchased over the seven-day period ending 2 April, with funds now net purchasers in 10 of the last 16 weeks. The report cites exchange a regulatory filings as revealing that the equivalent of 446m barrels have now been acquired since the middle of December.
The combined position has now risen to 653m barrels (63rd percentile for all weeks since 2013) from a record low of 207m on 12 December.
