Oil Trades Above $63 a Barrel One Year After Plunge Below Zero - Bloomberg

Oil Trades Above $63 a Barrel One Year After Plunge Below Zero - Bloomberg

• WTI for May delivery, which expires Tuesday, fell 4 cents to $63.34 a barrel at 10:20 a.m. in New York
• The more active June contract slid 6 cents to $63.37
• Brent for June climbed 21 cents at $67.26 a barrel

Oil fluctuated above $63 a barrel, exactly one year after U.S. benchmark crude futures plunged below zero, with traders extending its rally on bets for demand to return.

West Texas Intermediate chopped around Monday’s closing price after gaining as much as 1.4% earlier in the session. Libyan production fell below 1 million barrels a day amid a budget dispute. Meanwhile, the forward curve suggests growing confidence -- particularly as U.S. demand recovers -- with some market gauges surging in recent days. Several so-called timespreads are in their strongest backwardation in a month, indicating tight supply.

“There’s plenty of signs of a strong recovery, especially in the U.S.,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC. But the uneven recovery worldwide is “keeping a lid on prices.”