Hedge funds bet oil rally to extend into 2017 as output cuts hit

Brent crude fell 60 cents to settle at $51.81 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 61 cents to settle at $50.18 a barrel.

Venezuela will cut 95,000 barrels a day of production starting Jan. 1, the country’s oil ministry said in a statement posted Tuesday.

The net-long position in WTI rose by 1,753 futures and options to 307,909. It was the seventh week of increases, the longest stretch since March 2014.

In fuel markets, net-bullish bets on gasoline rose 17 percent to 50,091 contracts, the highest since February 2015, as futures advanced 3.7 percent in the report week. Money managers increased wagers on higher ultra low sulfur diesel prices by 22 percent to 33,541 contracts, the highest since July 2014, as futures advanced 1.8 percent. 

U.S. oil companies had been using the rally to hedge their price risk for the next two years, potentially boosting output next year. Producers’ short positions, protecting against a drop in prices, decreased to 614,449 contracts. The number of bearish wagers had climbed to the highest since August 2007 in the week ended Dec. 13.

"What a difference a year makes," Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago, said Friday in a phone interview. After doom-and-gloom sentiment closed out 2015, the market is now "probably the most optimistic we are looking going into a new year in energy in many, many years," he said. - Bloomberg