Crude oil futures traded higher on Thursday morning following a decline in the US inventory levels for the week ending June 20.
At 9.27 am on Thursday, September Brent oil futures were at $66.72 up by 0.44 per cent and August crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $65.16, up by 0.37 per cent. July crude oil futures were trading at ₹5,615 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹5,643, down by 0.50 per cent, and August futures were trading at ₹5,517 against the previous close of ₹5,545, down by 0.50 per cent.
According to the US EIA (Energy Information Administration), crude oil inventories in the US decreased by 5.8 million barrels for the week ending June 20. At 415.1 million barrels, US crude oil inventories were about 11 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 2.1 million barrels from last week and were about 3 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Both finished gasoline inventories and blending components inventories decreased last week. Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 4.1 million barrels last week and were about 20 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Previous data had shown that US crude oil inventories declined by 11.5 million barrels for the week ending June 13. Market reports said the latest EIA data indicated that demand remained strong in the US for the week ending June 20 also. US is one of the major consumers of crude oil in the world market.
According to US EIA, total products supplied in the US over the last four-week period averaged 20 million barrels a day, down by 1.6 per cent from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 9.1 million barrels a day, up by 0.2 per cent from the same period last year.
Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.5 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, down by 3.2 per cent from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was up 4.3 per cent compared with the same four-week period last year.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said he would seek a commitment from Iran to end its nuclear programme. US has not given up its maximum pressure on Iran, he said. Officials from Iran and US are expected to meet next week.
July natural gas futures were trading at ₹309 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹311.30, down by 0.74 per cent.