With the EU's embargo on Russian crude oil imports by sea and the EU-UK-G7 price cap on Russian oil set to come into force in December and February, respectively, hedge fund mangers are again betting on rising oil prices, according to a report by OilPrice.com.

The report cites data from futures exchanges as showing that over the past few weeks, hedge funds and other investors have increased bullish bets in the six most important petroleum futures and options contracts traded globally, suggesting that the oil market is expected to remain tight amid huge uncertainties about Russia’s oil supply.

According exchanges data compiled by Reuters’ senior market analyst John Kemp, money managers bought the equivalent of 41 million barrels of the six most traded petroleum futures and options contracts during the latest reporting week to 8 November, with the buying heavily concentrated in Brent Crude and WTI Crude.

Hedge funds were also net buyers of oil contracts in five out of the past six weeks, which lifted the ratio of long to short positions to 5.36:1 from 3.78:1, according to Kemp’s estimates.