futures traded lower on Friday morning following reports that the US is discussing ways to acquire ownership in Venezuelan oilfields.
At 10.01 am on Friday, November Brent oil futures were at $88.24, down by 0.32 per cent, and October crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $83.13, down by 0.48 per cent. September crude oil futures were trading at ₹7952 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹7964, down by 0.15 per cent, and October futures were trading at ₹7829 against the previous close of ₹7853, down by 0.31 per cent.
An Axios report, which quoted two unnamed US officials, said the US is in talks with Venezuela’s interim government about taking an ownership stake in that country’s enormous oil resources.
One of the officials said: “Calling this deal huge would be an understatement. It is massive.” US President Donald Trump is close to securing America’s energy future for generations to come, not just in the US but in the hemisphere, said another official.
The report said that top officials from the US met with their counterparts in Caracas last month to discuss more of the specifics.
In their Commodities Feed for Friday, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy of ING Think, and Ewa Manthey, Commodities Strategist, said that Venezuela is considering leaving OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) as relations with the US improve following the ousting of Nicolas Maduro at the start of the year. Venezuela entertaining the idea should not be too surprising, given that the US has taken control of Venezuelan oil sales. While an exit would reduce OPEC’s influence over the oil market, the group still holds a large market share, they said.
Oil prices ended higher on Thursday, with ICE Brent settling up 2.1 per cent. The renewed strength comes after reports that Trump told mediators the US has no intention of returning to the terms of the June Memorandum of Understanding. Instead, he indicated, the US is happy to see whether growing economic pressure on Iran yields better results. Optimism grew through the week amid efforts to restart talks. Clearly, this optimism has started to wane, they said.
September natural gas futures were trading at ₹280.60 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹283.60, down by 1.06 per cent.
On the ,September guargum contracts were trading at ₹12415 in the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹12253, up by 1.32 per cent.
September jeera futures were trading at ₹20715 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹20800, down by 0.41 per cent.