Oil Settles at 5-month low as supply glut fears mount
Oil prices settled at their lowest since early May on Monday as investors weighed a potential global glut, with U.S.-China trade tensions adding to concerns about an economic slowdown and weaker energy demand.
Brent crude futures settled down 28 cents, or 0.46%, at $61.01 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures settled down 2 cents, or 0.03%, to $57.52.
Both benchmarks fell more than $1 earlier in the session, and both closed at their weakest levels since early May.
Oil traders’ concerns have shifted from under-supply to over-supply, the futures contract structure of the global benchmark Brent showed.
The six-month spreads for Brent and U.S. crude futures both show contracts for earlier loading are trading below those for later loading, a structure known as contango, which encourages traders to pay for storing oil so it can be sold at higher prices when supplies are expected to have shrunk in the future.
The Brent contango, which emerged on Thursday for the first time since a brief appearance in May, was trading at its widest since December 2023.
The U.S. crude futures contango emerged on Friday for the first time since January 2024.
Source : Reuters.com
