Tension is brewing in the oil market as the optimism of financial players who have poured cash into crude futures is not shared by physical players who keep cutting sale prices in a tough fight to secure customers amid an ongoing supply glut. Money managers have amassed large bullish positions in U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and international Brent crude oil futures after producer plans to cut output for the first time in eight years drove prices above $50 a barrel. “The oil market is irrevocably gravitating towards equilibrium, leading to higher prices,” said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at Dutch bank ABN Amro in a note to clients this week. Yet those who produce, refine or ship oil are less optimistic. “One of the features of the market at […]