Speculators raise Brent, gas oil net longs

LONDON: Speculators raised their net long positions in ICE Brent crude oil and gas oil futures in the week to Sept. 20, data published by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) showed on Monday.

Hedge funds and other money managers increased net longs in ICE Brent by 4,276 contracts to 73,270 and increased net longs in ICE gas oil by 4,852 contracts to 61,438, the data showed.

The ICE data contrasts sharply with figures from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which said on Friday that speculators cut their net long US crude oil futures and options positions by 7 percent in the same week.

Large speculators reduced their net long US crude oil positions on the New York Mercantile Exchange by 12,369 positions to 167,177 in the week to Sept. 13, the CFTC said.

They also cut their net long positions in RBOB gasoline futures and options, cutting them by 6,389 or 12 percent to 44,920.

The divergence between the ICE and CFTC data partly reflects the differing performance of the markets.

In the week to Sept. 20, US light crude oil futures, also known as West Texas Intermediate, fell by $3.32 per barrel or 3.7 percent to close at $86.89.

ICE Brent, by contrast, was more stable, easing just 1.2 percent or $1.35 to $110.54, while ICE gas oil rose in the week by 1.5 percent to $939.00 per tonne.

Copyright Reuters, 2011