Crude Oil Price Movements
Crude oil spot prices rose in June, extending the previous month’s increase. Higher futures prices and strong physical crude market fundamentals drove the increase, amid higher crude demand from refiners and several supply disruptions. The OPEC Reference Basket rose $3.85, or 3.4%, to settle at $117.72/b. The ICE Brent front month increased by $5.54, or 4.9%, in June to average $117.50/b and NYMEX WTI rose by $5.08, or 4.6%, to average $114.34/b. The Brent/WTI futures spread widened by 46¢ to an average of $3.16/b. The
market structure of all three major crude benchmarks – ICE Brent, NYMEX WTI and DME Oman – strengthened further in June and prompt time spreads moved into deeper backwardation. Hedge funds and other money managers cut net long positions by nearly 11% in the two major futures contracts.