Investors may have driven crude oil futures prices above $50 a barrel and amassed large bullish positions in expectations of further gains to come but their optimism isn’t shared by the people who produce, refine, ship or trade the real stuff on a daily basis.
They inhabit a very different world in which there is plenty of oil sloshing around and buyers can get cargoes of crude at discounts to their official selling prices. Neither do they see much of an impact anytime soon from plans by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut production from record highs as they seek to rein in two years of oversupply.
