OIL OPTIONS: ICE Brent Nov26 Options Expiry on Sep 25

A total of 1,280mbbls of open Nov26 Brent options positions are currently due to expire on Sep 25. Open interest is 361k call contracts and 919k for puts. * Aggregate put option open interest has risen in the last month and currently at and 2.53m while call open interest has fallen to 1.65m contracts. * Of the volumes expiring this week, 139k of calls and just 19k of puts are currently in the money after the rally in futures during August and early September. * Currently, 16.9k of open calls and 12.7k of puts sit near the current market at the $100/bbl strike and with 28.7k of puts at the $99/bbl strike and 12.3k of calls up at $105/bbl. * The near-term Brent call-put volatility spread briefly turned negative on Sep 22 before rebounding back into a bullish skew. The Brent crude second month 25 delta spread is now around +2.5% after falling to the least bullish since mid-June and compares to a recent high of +12.8% on Sep 11, * Brent option daily traded volumes rose to the highest since July 23 at 893k yesterday driven by puts. Volumes have averaged 502k in the last week, of which 137k was calls while put volumes were 364k. * Below is a chart showing fro