RE:RE:You all are missing the point In the near term, the oil market is in backwardation, as the physical supply remains tight, which makes sense, as OPEC+ is still holding the line in regard to production cuts, and for the most part even non opec players like US shale have largely resisted the urge to ramp up drilling thus far, though rig counts have been steadily ticking up, week over week, since bottoming out in august.
US Oil rig counts started the year in 2020 at 670, bottomed out at 172 in August and is at 299 as of yesterday):
https://rigcount.bakerhughes.com/na-rig-count In the longer term on the futures curve, you rightly pointed out that prices are indeed lower than the near term, which makes sense, as supply cuts will probably have to end sooner or later, (nobody anticipates them to go on forever), and the market anticipates that future supply and demand dynamics wil probably not be as tight, as at present
prophetoffacts wrote: "WTI is holding $57/brl , thats all that you really need to look at ."
That's not the prices being paid in the future on the future's curve. Prices being paid for May 2022 are back around $50 and longer term the price is significantly below $50 as shown in the link. There's just some short-term pricing pressure as the world recovers from COVID because of the vaccine and due to the stimulus. WTI Financial Futures Quotes - CME Group