Oil futures regained some momentum on Tuesday in an otherwise discordant market in which bear factors have gained the upper hand. In London, the January Brent contract was up 91￠ and settled at $88.36/bbl, while in New York, the front-month Nymex West Texas Intermediate (WTI) January contract gained $1.22 and closed at $80.95/bbl. Despite the EU ban on Russian crude exports beginning in just two weeks, the oil market is not panicking. On the contrary, future prices are stabilizing and returning to relatively normal backwardation levels, at least for the front-trading months. Both Brent and WTI time spreads seem to indicate that market disruptions are over, even if that does not align with fundamentals.
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