Options investors bet on supply crunch pushing oil past $100

Oil investors are buying contracts that will only pay out if crude rises well above $100 a barrel over the next four years, a clear sign some believe, that today’s bust is sowing the seeds of the next boom.

The options deals, which brokers said bear the hallmarks of trades made by hedge funds, appear to be based on the belief that current low prices will generate a supply crunch as oil companies cut billions of dollars in spending on developing fields.

The International Energy Agency forecasts that non-OPEC supply will suffer its biggest decline in more than two decades this year.