Crude oil futures traded marginally lower on Monday morning as the announcement of the Russian President Vladimir Putin to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus helped support the price of the commodity.

At 9.50 am on Monday, June Brent oil futures were at $74.56, down by 0.04 per cent; and May crude oil futures on WTI were at $69.28, down by 0.03 per cent.

April crude oil futures were trading at ₹5,723 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) in the initial trading hour of Monday morning against the previous close of ₹5,728, down by 0.09 per cent; and May futures were trading at ₹5,776 as against the previous close of ₹5,772, up by 0.07 per cent.

On Saturday, Putin said that Russia will station its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. This statement was one of the major nuclear weapon-related statements by Russia since the war with Ukraine began a year ago.

A Reuters report quoted Putin’s statement to state television on this. According to his statement, the US has long deployed its tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of its allied countries.

“We agreed that we will do the same — without violating our obligations, I emphasise, without violating our international obligations on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons,” he said in the statement.

Putin’s statement is seen as a warning to NATO, which is providing military support to Ukraine.

It may be mentioned here that Russia is one of the major producers of crude oil in the world market, and any escalation in the war will further impact the energy markets across the globe.

April natural gas futures were trading at ₹190.90 on MCX in the initial trading hour of Monday morning against the previous close of ₹195.60, down by 2.40 per cent.

On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), April jeera contracts were trading at ₹35,455 in the initial trading hour of Monday morning against the previous close of ₹34,965, up by 1.40 per cent.

April dhaniya futures were trading at ₹6,890 on NCDEX in the initial trading hour of Monday morning against the previous close of ₹7078, down by 2.66 per cent.

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