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Crude oil futures traded marginally lower on Thursday morning as the US showed an increase in the crude oil inventories.
At 10 am on Thursday, April Brent oil futures were at $85.05, down by 0.05 per cent; and March crude oil futures on WTI were at $78.41, down by 0.08 per cent.
February crude oil futures were trading at ₹6481 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) in the initial trading hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹6472, up by 0.14 per cent; and March futures were trading at ₹6519 as against the previous close of ₹6505, up by 0.22 per cent.
Petroleum status report by the US EIA (Energy Information Administration) for the week ending February 3, which was released on February 8, showed an increase in the US commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the strategic petroleum reserve) by 2.4 million barrels from the previous week. At 455.1 million barrels, US crude oil inventories were about 4 per cent above the five-year average for this time of year.
However, the data from American Petroleum Institute (API) on Wednesday had shown a decline in US crude oil inventories by around 2.2 million barrels for week ending February 3.
According to the EIA report, total products supplied in the US over the last four-week period averaged 20.1 million barrels a day, down by 8.2 per cent from the same period last year.
Market reports said that some officials of the US Federal Reserve have indicated at more increase in interest rates to fight inflation in that country. Any aggressive interest rate increase would impact the demand for the commodities such as crude oil.
Disruption in the supply of crude oil due to the earthquake in Turkey limited the decline in the price of the commodity. Market reports said that BP Azerbaijan has declared force majeure on Azeri crude shipments from Ceyhan port in Turkey following the earthquake in that country. Apart from impacting the operations at Ceyhan, earthquake also affected the supply of crude oil from Iraq and Azerbaijan.
February natural gas futures were trading at ₹202.40 on MCX in the initial trading hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹201.70, up by 0.35 per cent.
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), February cottonseed oilcake contracts were trading at ₹2774 in the initial trading hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹2791, down by 0.61 per cent.
April turmeric (farmer polished) futures were trading at ₹7054 on NCDEX in the initial trading hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹7080, down by 0.37 per cent.
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