The United States Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO), which tracks West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures, and the United States Brent Oil Fund (NYSEArca: BNO), which tracks Brent crude oil futures, traded slightly lower last week. That could signal lingering controversy and risk surrounding the long oil trade.
However, declining inventories could be a bullish catalyst that encourages more traders to revisit oil from the long side.
While the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are skeptical that demand growth can put a dent into the ongoing supply glut, the oil cartel has made steps to cut down supply to bolster prices. OPEC has already promised to curb production by 1.2 million barrels per day between January this year and March 2018.
“More importantly, there is growing evidence to suggest that the inventory drawdowns will continue and might even accelerate. That evidence can be found in the futures market, where changes in longer-dated contracts are no longer trading at a much higher price than near-term prices,” reports OilPrice.com.