rebels:

Cotango is in fact the normal state of affairs in commodity pricing . Cotango is the state of oil in future months being progressively higher. The issue is, the cotango which exists today is extreme. It has been running as much as $15 to $25 for delivery in the December 09 contract than oil for current delivery. This has resulted in tanker companies buying oil in the spot market, selling December 09 and parking the ships with its oil content. They will then deliver the oil in Dec. 09.

Only the extreme amount of the Cotango is unusual.

For informational purposes, the reverse of cotango is called backwardation, in which oil for delivery in the future is less than oil for delivery in the current month. Cotango is normal. Backwardation is aberrational.

Brian