Portfolio investors purchased petroleum in the first full week of 2024, reversing sales the previous week and continuing the pattern of choppy trading that has continued since early December.
Portfolio investors resumed selling petroleum futures and options, especially those tied to crude, amid renewed doubts about growth in oil consumption in 2024.
Investors remained extremely bearish about the outlook for crude oil prices in the run up to the OPEC+ ministerial meeting on Nov. 30, anticipating the group would not or could not cut output enough to boost prices.
WTI crude oil is a specific grade of crude oil and one of the main three benchmarks in oil pricing, along with Brent and Dubai Crude. WTI is the underlying commodity of the New York Mercantile Exchange s (NYMEX) oil futures contract and is considered a high-quality oil that is easily refined.