Forex Trading In the US, the benchmark for oil pricing is West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude, but the bulk of this oil no longer comes from Texas. The spread between the WTI to Brent has historically been small, but recently it has widened to as much as $15/Barrel. During the past year there have been two new pipelines pumping Canadian oil down to the Midwest. Further the ever expanding production in the Williston basin, probably now approaching 500k/barrels per day is adding to the Midwest supply glut. While this may be beneficial to the refining margins, this small surplus of oil is not likely to interrupt the oil specs bull party.Oil and refined products are included in the major commodity index funds. If you examine the CFTC COT report, the non reportable small spec positions amount to only 4.6% of the Crude Oil Light Sweet long and 2.5% of the short. With the total open interest 2,803,419 contracts, this market is truly the playground for the big boys.U nsettling is the fact that the oil market strength, during the late winter, is far in advance of the peak North American summer driving season. This contra seasonal strength may be the proverbial canary in the mine, a warning of some bumpy economic roads and higher oil prices ahead.
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