Crude oil futures traded higher on Wednesday morning as the Israel-Iran conflict entered its sixth day. This raised concerns about potential disruptions to global oil supplies.

At 9.55 am on Wednesday, August Brent oil futures were at $76.69, up by 0.31 per cent, and August crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $73.44, up by 0.23 per cent. June crude oil futures were trading at ₹6,482 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Wednesday against the previous close of ₹6,426, up by 0.87 per cent, and July futures were trading at ₹6,348 against the previous close of ₹6,299, up by 0.78 per cent.

Hostilities between Israel and Iran continued on Wednesday with both countries carrying out attacks on each other. Adding to this, US President Donald Trump called for Iran’s unconditional surrender through a post on his social media platform Truth Social. Reports said that Trump also met with the US national security team. This led to speculations that the US may join Israel in attacking Iran. Such moves could lead to wider regional escalation of the conflict.

Iran, which produces around 3.3 million barrels a day of crude oil, is one of the major members of the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) bloc. Reports said that OPEC could use its spare capacity to boost production, if there is a decline in output from Iran.

Meanwhile, the latest data from the industry body American Petroleum Institute (API) showed a huge decline in crude oil inventories in the US for the week ending June 13. According to API, crude oil inventories in the US declined by 10.13 million barrels for the week ending June 13. Market was expecting to decline by 0.6 million barrels during the period. However, official data from the US EIA (Energy Information Administration) is expected later on Wednesday.

June natural gas futures were trading at ₹334.60 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Wednesday against the previous close of ₹329.10, up by 1.67 per cent.

On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), June jeera contracts were trading at ₹19,185 in the initial hour of trading on Wednesday against the previous close of ₹19,100 up by 0.45 per cent.

August turmeric (farmer polished) futures were trading at ₹14,400 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Wednesday against the previous close of ₹14,448 down by 0.33 per cent.

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Published on June 18, 2025