Speculators' net bets on rising Brent crude oil prices hit a record high last week, figures from the InterContinental Exchange (ICE) show, as fighting spread across Iraq, threatening oil supplies.
Large money managers increased their net long futures and options positions in ICE Brentby 18,451 lots to 242,201 in the week to June 24, the highest ever recorded by the exchange.
Long positions in Brent held by money managers now outnumber short positions by a ratio of six to one, ICE data shows.
Net longs in options and futures in ICE gasoilalso rose substantially in the week, up 14,967 lots to 77,256, the highest level since the end of February.
Sunni Islamist insurgents have swept across northern Iraq in the last month, taking control of large parts of the country as well as its largest oil refinery.
Although the fighting is a long way from Iraq's southern oilfields and export terminals, which account for around 90 percent of oil exports, investors say spot oil prices now reflect the possibility that oil production may be affected.
"A lot of people are very long," said Stephen Schork, editor of The Schork Report in Villanova, Pennsylvania.
Source: Reuters
Large money managers increased their net long futures and options positions in ICE Brent
Long positions in Brent held by money managers now outnumber short positions by a ratio of six to one, ICE data shows.
Net longs in options and futures in ICE gasoil
Sunni Islamist insurgents have swept across northern Iraq in the last month, taking control of large parts of the country as well as its largest oil refinery.
Although the fighting is a long way from Iraq's southern oilfields and export terminals, which account for around 90 percent of oil exports, investors say spot oil prices now reflect the possibility that oil production may be affected.
"A lot of people are very long," said Stephen Schork, editor of The Schork Report in Villanova, Pennsylvania.
