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Fund Bets Brent Oil Will Rise Toward $100 as Risk Premium Grows

(Bloomberg) -- One fund is taking on a cheap long-shot bet that Brent crude will climb toward $100 a barrel amid revived tensions in the Middle East, even as industrywide pessimism saw banks across Wall Street revising price forecasts lower.

Options equivalent to 20 million barrels that would profit if Brent’s June contract rallies toward $100 traded on Monday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

They’re relatively cheap at about a nickel each, bringing the total bet to about $1 million — a long-shot bet with futures near $71 a barrel and widely expected to fall. Implied volatility for June 5-delta calls jumped about 7 points. It’s not the only bullish bet being placed — 5 million barrels worth of August $85 calls were bought a bit later.

US President Donald Trump ordered military strikes Iranian-backed Houthi militia, before saying in a social media post that the administration will view maritime attacks by the Houthi militia as equivalent to direct affronts by Tehran. The developments are resuscitating fears of a larger regional conflagration that have largely been allayed for the past few months.

Still, the wager sticks out amid a flurry of bearish put options as trade wars roil the outlook for energy demand and turn Wall Street sour on crude. Top traders including Vitol and Gunvor see prices falling further, while banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley, among others, have slashed their forecasts in recent weeks.