Commodity Tips, US oil prices hit highest since 2015

US oil prices hit their highest since 2015 again on Tuesday as speculators bet on further price rises amid OPEC-led production cuts and a dip in American drilling activity.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $62.13 a barrel at 0123 GMT— 40 cents, or 0.65 percent, above their last settlement. They marked a May–2015 high of $62.56 a barrel in early trading. Beyond that 2015–high, which was a short intra-day spike, Tuesday’s peak was the highest level for WTI since December 2014, at the start of the oil market slump.

Brent crude futures were at $68.12 a barrel, 34 cents, or 0.5 percent, above their last close. Brent touched $68.27 last week, its strongest since May 2015.

Traders said prices were mainly being driven by speculative money being poured into crude futures on the notion of a tighter market following a year of production cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia, which are set to last through 2018. “Speculators continued to increase their net long in ICE Brent...According to exchange data, speculators increased their position by 4,175 lots to leave them with a record net long of 565,459 lots,” ING bank said in a note.

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