Concerns among oil traders are escalating that a combination of surprisingly resilient U.S. shale production and lower autumn refinery demand will cause storage tanks in Cushing, Oklahoma, to fill to the brim with surplus crude as early as October. The biggest U.S. refinery in the Midwest is suffering through an unexpected outage that may take months to resolve. The shutdown may free up enough crude to top off Cushing in just 2 months, a month earlier than the market expected as recently as last week, sparking a sell-off of oil futures spreads. “Looks like Cushing is going to be full in October now,” said one oil trader. “That’s very bearish.” The Sept/Oct spread, which settled at 49 cents on Friday, traded as wide as 82 cents on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Oct/Nov spread ballooned to an even wider $1.06 on Wednesday versus 75 cents on Friday. Spreads are often an […]