Crude oil futures traded higher on Thursday morning as markets analysed the latest developments in West Asia peace talks.
At 10.01 am on Thursday, July Brent oil futures were at $101.95, up by 0.67 per cent, and June crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $95.73, up by 0.68 per cent. May crude oil futures were trading at ₹9074 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹9017, up by 0.63 per cent, and June futures were trading at ₹8762 against the previous close of ₹8724, up by 0.44 per cent.
US President Donald Trump said he believed Iran wanted an agreement on the West Asia situation. In a post on the social media platform Truth Social, he said: “Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran. If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before.”
Referring to the reports by Axios that Iran and US are nearing a peace deal, Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of the Iranian parliament’s Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy, said it is more of a wish list than a reality.
The latest petroleum status report for the week ending May 1 showed a decline in crude oil inventories in the US.
According to the US EIA (Energy Information Administration), US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 2.3 million barrels for the week ending May 1.
Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 2.5 million barrels from last week and are 4 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 1.3 million barrels last week and were about 11 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Total products supplied in the US over the last four-week period averaged 20.3 million barrels per day, up by 2.6 per cent from the same period last year.
Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 9 million barrels per day, up by 1 per cent from the same period last year.
Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.8 million barrels per day over the past four weeks, up by 3.5 per cent from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was down 6.2 per cent compared with the same four-week period last year.
May natural gas futures were trading at ₹259.20 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹258.40, up by 0.31 per cent.
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), May dhaniya contracts were trading at ₹12836 in the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹12870, up down 0.26 per cent.
May jeera futures were trading at ₹20310 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹20340, down by 0.15 per cent.