Oil hedging rally slows amid backwardation

Recent hedging enthusiasm wanes as shale producers turn to 2019 and 2020 production

The recent flurry of hedging by shale oil producers is expected to slow over the next few weeks, as firms wait to see whether longer-dated crude futures prices will rise further, say analysts and banks.  

US shale producers are now very well hedged out to the end of this year following the recent rise in crude oil prices, which triggered a new round of producer hedging in December and January, say analysts. The main hedging focus from here will be on 2019 and 2020 production, but firms are