Prices Steady with High Uncertainty in Crude Markets

Crude is holding with the market balancing uncertainty over economic growth, Chinese oil demand recovery and Russian oil exports.

• The WTI prompt spreads remain in contango suggesting ample short term supplies amid weak demand. The longer dated spreads have all softened over the last week but remain in backwardation.
• Crude positioning shows higher open interest in both futures and options this year with managed money net longs increasing. The options market is still showing a healthy downside skew towards the puts although the spread has closed very slightly this week.
  • Brent APR 23 down -0.4% at 81.82$/bbl
  • WTI MAR 23 down -0.4% at 75.58$/bbl
  • Brent APR 23-MAY 23 up 0.01$/bbl at 0.15$/bbl
  • Brent JUN 23-DEC 23 up 0.11$/bbl at 2.48$/bbl
  • Brent DEC 23-DEC 24 down -0.06$/bbl at 3.98$/bbl
  • WTI MAR 23-APR 23 unchanged at -0.32$/bbl
  • WTI JUN 23-DEC 23 up 0.04$/bbl at 2.18$/bbl
  • WTI DEC 23-DEC 24 down -0.09$/bbl at 4.11$/bbl