Slumping Mideast Oil Market Adds to Signs of Global Weakness

The Middle Eastern crude market is showing further signs of weakness, amplifying concerns about a global glut that could drag prices lower, while enabling Asian traders to shrug off developments in Venezuela.

The discount of the regional Dubai benchmark to Brent futures — known as the Brent-Dubai exchange of futures for swaps, or EFS — was at the widest since August on Monday, suggesting ample supplies. The forward curve for Dubai swaps, meanwhile, is back in contango, a bearish pattern marked by nearer-dated contracts trading at discounts to later ones.