- Oil moved higher Monday morning as traders continued to weigh an ongoing supply deficit against governmental efforts to tame prices
- The world’s largest independent oil trader, Vitol, said that oil prices could be higher given the risk of supply disruption from Russia, but that the market is still trying to establish exactly how many barrels have been lost (Bloomberg)
- WTI suffered its biggest weekly decline in over two years last week after the U.S. announced a record-setting release from its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR)
- The IEA and its member countries will also join the effort to add supply from stockpiles, with details expected this week
- AEGIS notes that the WTI curve structure has weakened as the government takes action to supply the market in the short term from SPR
- WTI backwardation, as measured between the prompt contract and the thirteenth contract, fell to 12% on Friday
- Backwardation (downward sloping) for the 12-month timespread, was closer to 20-25% for the month of March