Oil Inventories at Key U.S. Hub Recover From 3-Year Low

The precipitous decline through October and November sent the price difference between West Texas Intermediate oil contracts for immediate delivery versus the next month to its widest premium in years, a bullish structure known as backwardation.

Inventories at the delivery point for benchmark futures rose by about 2.4 million barrels last week, the biggest increase since February. This has helped the prompt spread narrow to 25 cents a barrel from $1.88 a barrel in early November, when it reached the highest since 2018.