Global floating oil storage declined at a fast pace in December as traders sold crude held on tankers in the absence of price incentives to store it and in order to meet peak winter demand in Asia, analysts and sources at trading firms told Reuters . The Brent futures curve has returned to backwardation, the state of the market signaling tighter supplies with prompt prices higher than those further out in time. Backwardation removes the incentives for traders to store oil in floating storage. In March and April, when oil demand crashed, traders were rushing to hire supertankers to store oil for sale at later dates, taking advantage of the market contango, in which front-month prices are lower than prices in future months, pointing to a crude oil oversupply and making storing oil for future sales profitable. But the recent rally in oil prices has deepened the backwardation, removing […]