Hedge funds are betting that the oil-price crash is close to ending. Speculators boosted their net-long position in West Texas Intermediate crude by 14 percent in the week ended Dec. 2, the most in 20 months, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Short bets contracted by 15 percent as long wagers expanded 4 percent. Oil’s collapse accelerated after the 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided Nov. 27 to maintain output levels, underscoring the price war in crude. Oil tumbled into a bear market in October and reached a five-year low last week as the U.S. shale boom added to a global glut at a time of weakening demand growth. “A lot of people are betting that the selloff is overdone,” John Kilduff , a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund (USO) that focuses on energy, said by phone Dec. 5. “We haven’t seen […]