Hedge fund boss Andurand calls oil futures market "broken"

Quantum Commodity Intelligence - Top oil hedge-fund manager Pierre Andurand described oil futures markets as "completely broken" in a comment aimed at the extreme volatility seen in daily price movements this year.

The remark closely echoed Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, who last week slammed the disconnect between futures and fundamentals, which he indicated could warrant OPEC+ production cuts.  

"The oil futures market is completely broken. Moving down $10 in a day for no apparent reason," said Andurand in a short comment posted on Twitter.

Both Brent and WTI have been prone to increasingly large price swings since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which in turn has made trading more expensive in the form of exchange fees and margining costs

Saudi's Prince Abdulaziz said the extreme volatility and lack of liquidity had led to the futures market being increasingly disconnected from fundamentals. 

French national Andurand initially worked as an energy derivatives trader in Singapore for Bank of America and Vitol in the 2000s, before joining the hedge fund world in 2007.