Sales over the two most recent weeks totalled 149 million barrels, the fastest rate since early March, in the immediate aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Similar to the week before, last week’s selling was concentrated in crude (-89 million barrels), specifically in Brent (-71 million barrels).
Two-week crude sales totalled 137 million barrels, with Brent totalling 100 million barrels, according to position records published by ICE Futures Europe and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The number of crude positions, WTI as well as Brent, fell to just 306 million barrels (9th percentile for all weeks since 2013) down from 443 million barrels (40th percentile) on Nov. 8.
The ratio of bullish long positions to bearish short ones fell to 3.28:1 (27th percentile) from 5.36:1 (62nd percentile) two weeks earlier.