Investors in the global crude market have shown more optimistic on oil futures since the slump began two and a half years ago.
Money managers hiked bets on rising West Texas Intermediate crude prices to the highest level since July 2014 after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and producers outside the group agreed to coordinate crude production cuts.
Prices advanced to a 17-month high on Dec. 12 on speculation that the curbs will reduce the global inventory glut next year.
Hedge funds increased wagers on rising WTI by 2.5 percent in the week ended Dec. 13, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show, while shorts, or bets on lower prices, tumbled 30 percent to the lowest level since May.
WTI advanced 4 percent to $52.98 a barrel in the report week. Prices settled at $52.12 a barrel in New York on Monday, Bloomberg reports.
Money managers increased net-long positions in Brent crude by 25,276 contracts to 477,861, extending the record in ICE Futures Europe data going back to 2011.
OPEC agreed on Nov. 30 in Vienna to reduce output by 1.2 million barrels a day to 32.5 million for six months starting in January. On Dec. 10, the group was joined by other producers, including Russia and Kazakhstan, who pledged to trim supply by 558,000 barrels a day.
“Money managers have loaded up on the long side of the market,” Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York, said by telephone. “They are looking for higher prices and therefore their fortunes are closely linked to the rate of compliance to these production cuts.”
