Crude oil futures traded lower on Thursday morning after official data showed an increase in US crude oil inventory levels.
At 9.54 am on Thursday, September Brent oil futures were at $68.60, down by 0.74 per cent, and August crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $66.98, down by 0.70 per cent. July crude oil futures were trading at ₹5,741 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹5,753, down by 0.21 per cent, and August futures were trading at ₹5,641 against the previous close of ₹5654, down by 0.23 per cent.
Weekly petroleum status report by the US EIA (Energy Information Administration) said the US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 3.8 million barrels for the week ending June 27. At 419 million barrels, US crude oil inventories were about 9 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 4.2 million barrels from last week and were about 1 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year. Both finished gasoline inventories and blending components inventories increased last week.
Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 1.7 million barrels last week and were about 21 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories increased by 3 million barrels from last week and are 11 per cent above the five-year average.
Total products supplied in the US over the last four-week period averaged 20.3 million barrels a day, down by 1.1 per cent from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 9.2 million barrels a day, down by 0.1 per cent from the same period last year.
Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.7 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, up by 0.6 per cent from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was up 2.4 per cent compared with the same four-week period last year. US is a major consumer of crude oil in the world market.
In their Commodities Feed for Thursday, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy of ING Think, and Ewa Manthey, Commodities Strategist, said oil prices moved higher on Wednesday, with ICE Brent settling just shy of a 3 per cent gain on the day. Trade optimism is providing a boost to the market, following the Trump administration’s announcement that it reached a trade deal with Vietnam.
“However, this optimism may be short-lived, with OPEC+ deciding on August production levels this weekend. The expectation is that the group will go with another large supply increase of 4,11,000 barrels a day. Given the uncertainty, market participants will probably not want to carry too much risk into the long US weekend,” they said.
Next week marks the end of Trump’s 90-day reciprocal tariff pause. “We could see tariff increases reinstated on some US trading partners if trade deals are not concluded. This leaves a fair amount of uncertainty going into next week,” they added.
July natural gas futures were trading at ₹298.70 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹300.10, down by 0.47 per cent.
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), July guargum contracts were trading at ₹9,690 in the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹9,658, up by 0.33 per cent.
July castor seed futures were trading at ₹6,910 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹6,898, up by 0.17 per cent.
Published on July 3, 2025