Respected energy hedge fund manager Andrew Hall, a well-established bull in the embattled oil market, lost about 35 percent last year, according to someone who has reviewed Hall's performance numbers.
Hall, the longtime oil trader who runs Southport, Connecticut-based Astenbeck Capital Management, has remained irrepressibly optimistic about crude despite the downturn of the last year and a half. As recently as early December, with his fund down 26 percent on the year, Hall defended his position to investors, calling higher oil prices "down the road" a "virtual inevitability" in a letter reported by Reuters at the time, adding that "now is not the time to exit the market."
Still, by that point, Astenbeck's assets had fallen to $2.4 billion from $3 billion earlier in the year, according to Reuters.
Hall did not respond to requests for comment.