WTI six-month timespread backwardation at pre-invasion level Prices don’t reflect chance of more supply disruptions: Vitol The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in Freeport, Texas, U.S. Has the U.S.’s massive strategic reserves release broken oil’s rally? A look at crude’s futures curve would certainly suggest it has. Oil is still backwardated — a bullish market structure where near-dated prices are pricier than those further out — but it’s eased to levels near where they were before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threw the market into turmoil. The six-month timespread for West Texas Intermediate was $7.05 a barrel in backwardation at the end of Friday’s session, compared with $13.46 at the close on Wednesday before the U.S. announcement. The similar spread for global benchmark Brent crude also narrowed sharply. The redrawing of the curve indicates the market is a lot less anxious about supply shortfalls since the White House said it would […]