Crude oil futures traded higher on Monday morning as Russia decided to deepen its oil export cuts during the month. The market expressed concerns over crude oil supplies following the attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea region.

At 9.54 am on Monday, February Brent oil futures were at $76.88, up by 0.43 per cent, and February crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $72.13, up by 0.49 per cent.

December crude oil futures were trading at ₹5,945 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during initial trading against the previous close of ₹5,952, down by 0.12 per cent; and January futures were trading at ₹6008 as against the previous close of ₹6010, up by 0.03 per cent.

Move to stabilise prices

Reports quoting the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Novak, said Russia would further deepen crude oil export cuts beyond the 300,000 barrels a day. Russia could resort to additional cuts of around 50,000 barrels a day during December.

Though Russia had earlier agreed to a cut of 300,000 barrels a day compared to the May-June export level, it decided to deepen that cut to 500,000 barrels a day recently. The proposed additional cut of 50,000 barrels a day is seen as a move to stabilise the price for the commodity in the international market.

Saudi Arabia and Russia, two of the major oil producers, had asked the members of OPEC (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and its allies, known as OPEC+, to resort to voluntary production output cuts to stabilise the market.

In addition to this, Russia suspended two-thirds of its loadings from ports on Friday due to a storm and scheduled maintenance.

Meanwhile, attacks on the merchant vessels by the Houthi militants in Yemen in the Red Sea region made the major shipping lines to avoid the Suez Canal, which is one of the important shipping routes in the world. Market fears that this would have an impact on the smooth movement of commodities, including crude oil. This development also helped boost the price of crude oil.

December zinc futures were trading at ₹222.30 on MCX during initial trading against the previous close of ₹223.20, down by 0.40 per cent.

Dhaniya cools, cottonseed oil cake gains

On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), December cottonseed oilcake contracts were trading at ₹2,919 in the initial trading hour of Monday morning against the previous close of ₹2,894, up by 0.86 per cent.

January dhaniya futures were trading at ₹7,656 on NCDEX in the initial trading hour of Monday morning against the previous close of ₹7,748, down by 1.19 per cent.

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