Speculators cut U.S. crude oil net longs-CFTC

Money managers cut their net long U.S. crude futures and options positions in the week to March 15, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said.

The speculator group cut its combined futures and options position in New York and London by 15,904 contracts to 268,751 during the period.

The data below exclude trader positions in the NYMEX financial crude oil futures contract, which is normally included in our aggregate calculations. The data were not provided by the CFTC this week.

 Selected categories from the CFTC weekly Commitment of Traders report:

FUTURES + OPTIONS        Managed                 Swaps              Producer
                             Net        Chg        Net        Chg        Net        Chg
NYMEX Crude              258,739    -18,795   -564,520     16,908    118,326     21,841
ICE WTI crude             10,012      2,891   -103,258      2,137     75,327    -28,259
                      ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Total                    268,751    -15,904   -667,778     19,045    193,653     -6,418

RBOB                      55,118     -6,433     36,368      4,835    -85,873     -1,124
Heating oil               11,423     -1,381     62,908     -1,690    -71,770      5,923

                           Other             NonReport                  Open
                             Net        Chg        Net        Chg   Interest        Chg
NYMEX Crude              141,153    -15,271     46,303     -4,682  2,796,010   -146,372
ICE WTI crude             12,263     21,536      5,656      1,695    759,660     -6,999
                      ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Total                    153,416      6,265     51,959     -2,987  3,555,670   -153,371

RBOB                     -10,964      3,137      5,351       -414    290,256    -23,265
Heating oil              -20,128     -1,188     17,567     -1,664    244,277     -8,722
=======================================================================================
FUTURES ONLY             Managed                 Swaps              Producer
                             Net        Chg        Net        Chg        Net        Chg
NYMEX Crude              223,651    -11,186   -484,477      9,827    101,875     16,380
ICE WTI crude             11,391      3,293    -87,959     -2,999     66,186    -26,451
                      ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Total                    235,042     -7,893   -572,436      6,828    168,061    -10,071
RBOB                      55,118     -6,433     36,536      4,765    -85,450     -1,069
Heating oil               11,493     -1,221     63,511     -1,760    -72,119      5,694

                           Other             NonReport                  Open
                             Net        Chg        Net        Chg   Interest        Chg
NYMEX Crude              118,164     -8,664     40,787     -6,357  1,850,794    -46,180
ICE WTI crude              5,235     24,223      5,147      1,934    535,618     10,042
                      ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Total                    123,399     15,559     45,934     -4,423  2,386,412    -36,138
RBOB                     -11,516      3,135      5,312       -398    288,066    -23,157
Heating oil              -20,325       -860     17,440     -1,853    237,476     -8,192
=======================================================================================

Source: Reuters (Reporting by NY Energy Desk: 646-223-6050)