New Delhi, March 9 -- Signs of distress are flashing in the futures market for crude oil as traders jostle to lock in barrels early rather than wait for later, as the West Asia conflict escalates. World oil futures for the far months are now trading at a steep discount to the near month, upending the normal behaviour of oil markets during periods of comfortable supply, when far-off month prices trade at a premium to the near month price. Near month prices trade closer to the spot price.

On London-based ICE Europe, the June contract for crude oil was trading at a $6.86 per barrel discount to the May contract of $104.53 at the time of writing. On 27 February, a day before the war began, it was just the opposite: the June contract was at a ...