- Oil futures opened mostly flat on Monday morning as traders and investors continue to weigh the outlook for demand amid a resurgence in Covid-19
- Ice Brent traded near $74/Bbl early this morning following a volatile week that saw prices swing in a $6.75 range
- Hedge fund net positioning in the oil complex fell by a whopping 171.5 MMBbl for the week ended last Tuesday
- Speculators last week cut their net long positions in WTI by the most since 2017, while Brent outright longs fell the most since 2018 (CFTC, ICE, Bloomberg)
- Money managers cut net-bullish bets on WTI by 64.7k lots, the most in contract terms in four years
- The move in net-spec was mostly driven by a reduction of longs, rather than the addition of shorts
- The US is considering cracking down on Iranian oil sales to China (National Post)
- A US official said the US is mulling new sanctions as it braces for the possibility that Iran may not return to nuclear talks or may adopt a harder line whenever it does
- The same US official said Iran – which has said it will not resume talks until the newly President-elect Ebrahim Raisi takes over – has been “very murky” about its intentions