More and more traders are betting on growth of crude prices that is a quite feasible scenario in the near future. Despite oversupply of crude to the global commodity market and a stable output rate, a number of bullish deals has been the utmost in April for the recent four years. First and foremost, such bullish activity has been unfolding amid signs of a notable decrease in the US oil production. However, if scrutinizing the statistics in detail, hedge funds increased bets on rising oil prices to an eight-month high. Speculators boosted their net-long position in West Texas Intermediate crude by 30% in the seven days ended April 14 that has been the biggest surge since October 2011. These figures are confirmed by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Net-long positions in WTI rose by 19,185 to 231,556 futures and options in the week ended April 14. Short bets declined 13% to 109,973, while long positions rose 0.9% to 341,529. Meanwhile, crude prices are declining amid the news on swelling output in the United States which has hit its peak. Experts foresee that US production of crude and natural gas is set to fall. Importantly, US drillers idled oil rigs for the 19th straight week. However, if 50% of oil rigs are shut down, the remaining rigs will produce more oil at an accelerating pace. What is more, the US could outperform the OPEC countries in terms of crude supplies to the global market.More and more traders are betting on growth of crude prices that is a quite feasible scenario in the near future. Despite oversupply of crude to the global commodity market and a stable output rate, a number of bullish deals has been the utmost in April for the recent four years. First and foremost, such bullish activity has been unfolding amid signs of a notable decrease in the US oil production. However, if scrutinizing the statistics in detail, hedge funds increased bets on rising oil prices to an eight-month high. Speculators boosted their net-long position in West Texas Intermediate crude by 30% in the seven days ended April 14 that has been the biggest surge since October 2011. These figures are confirmed by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Net-long positions in WTI rose by 19,185 to 231,556 futures and options in the week ended April 14. Short bets declined 13% to 109,973, while long positions rose 0.9% to 341,529. Meanwhile, crude prices are declining amid the news on swelling output in the United States which has hit its peak. Experts foresee that US production of crude and natural gas is set to fall. Importantly, US drillers idled oil rigs for the 19th straight week. However, if 50% of oil rigs are shut down, the remaining rigs will produce more oil at an accelerating pace. What is more, the US could outperform the OPEC countries in terms of crude supplies to the global market.
