Exactly. He can sell his 1,000,000 barrels of expected August 1st production on August 1st or he can sell 1000 July futures contract on Monday and deliver his 1,000,000 barrels on August 1st.
For the future delivery he merely needs to leave the oil in the ground until he needs to deliver it.
For the spot delivery he merely needs to leave the oil in the ground until he needs to deliver it.
So long as long side positions continue to grow, that is oil that stays off the market.
No, the oil is not staying off the market.
But if the buyer is a long side only speculator who is happy to accumulate a growing position over time and roll over his expiring contract, and the seller is a producer, the date when the producer actually needs to pump the oil out of the ground and deliver it can be put off until the current situation reverses itself, if ever, a day that may not need to come since demand is growing.
The game only works when you have low interest rates, and inelastic supply and demand.
The long side only speculators did not make the present market circumstances. Growing demand and short sighted congresses did that. But that does not mean that they cannot make money off of exploiting the market conditions.