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Crude oil futures traded lower on Thursday morning as official data showed an increase in the inventories of gasoline and a decline in the demand for petroleum products in the US.
At 10.03 am on Thursday, September Brent oil futures were at $106.13, down by 1.13 per cent, and September crude oil futures on WTI were at $98.95, down by 0.93 per cent.
August crude oil futures were trading at ₹7,935 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) in the initial hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹8,009, down by 0.92 per cent, and September futures were trading at ₹7,737 against the previous close of ₹7799, down by 0.79 per cent.
Gasoline, blended components stocks
The Petroleum Status Report by the US EIA (Energy Information Administration) for the week ending July 15, which was released on July 20, showed that total motor gasoline inventories increased by 3.5 million barrels last week. Market participants had expected an increase of around 71,000 barrels a day.
Both finished gasoline inventories and blending components inventories increased last week, the report said. At the same time, it also showed a decrease in the demand for the products in the US market. Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 20.1 million barrels a day, down by 2.6 per cent from the same period last year.
Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline products supplied averaged 8.7 million barrels a day, down by 7.6 per cent from the same period last year. Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.8 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, down by 0.6 per cent from the same period last year.
The US EIA report mentioned that crude oil imports averaged 6.5 million barrels a day last week, a decrease of 0.2 million barrels a day from the previous week. The US crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.3 million barrels a day during the week ending July 15, which was 321,000 barrels a day less than the previous week’s average.
Zinc, steel head south
July zinc futures were trading at ₹273.85 on MCX in the initial hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹276.80, down by 1.07 per cent.
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), August guar gum futures were trading at ₹9,453 in the initial hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹9,376, up by 0.82 per cent.
August steel long contracts were trading at ₹50,500 on NCDEX in the initial hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹51,920, down by 2.73 per cent.
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