The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC said it is well-pleased with Crude oil Price Movements since January, this year.
In its February 2021 report obtained by The Daily, www.thedaily-ng.com, OPEC stated: “Crude oil spot prices rose firmly in January, along with a steady rise in futures markets. Major physical crude benchmarks increased about 10% month-on-month (m-o-m) on improving market fundamentals, particularly the prospect of tighter crude supply and the declining trend in global oil stocks.
“The OPEC Reference Basket gained $5.21, or 10.6%, m-o-m to average $54.38/b. Crude oil futures prices extended gains in January, increasing on both sides of the Atlantic for the third consecutive month, with the ICE Brent front-month up $5.10, or 10.2%, in January to average $55.32/b and NYMEX WTI gaining $5.03, or 10.7%, to average $52.10/b.
“Consequently, the Brent-WTI spread widened slightly by 7¢ but remained at a narrow $3.22/b on average. The futures price structure for the Brent, WTI, and Dubai markets was in sustained backwardation last month, evidence that the global oil market is improving, resulting in an accelerating rebalancing process.”
It added: “Hedge funds and other money managers appeared positive about the oil price outlook, raising net long positions by nearly 11% in the four weeks of January.
