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Brent crude oil futures gained on the reports of damage to a crude oil export terminal on the Black Sea following a storm, and due to decline in the US crude oil inventories.
At the time of filing this report, May Brent oil futures were at $120.92, up by 4.71 per cent; and May crude oil futures on WTI at $114.14, down by 0.69 per cent.
April crude oil futures were trading at ₹8738 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) in the initial hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹8731, up by 0.08 per cent; and May futures were trading at ₹8536 against the previous close of ₹8539, down by 0.04 per cent.
Reports said that crude exports from Kazakhstan’s CPC (Caspian Pipeline Consortium) terminal came to a standstill after it was damaged by a storm. This pipeline carries about 1.2 million barrels a day of Kazakh crude to a Russian port on Black Sea coast.
Meanwhile, the Weekly Petroleum Status Report for the week ended March 18, which was released by the US Energy Information Administration on Wednesday, said that the US crude oil imports averaged 6.5 million barrels a day during the week, up by 92,000 barrels a day from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.2 million barrels a day, 9.1 per cent more than the same four-week period last year.
The US commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the strategic petroleum reserve) decreased by 2.5 million barrels from the previous week. At 413.4 million barrels, US crude oil inventories are about 13 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year, the report said.
In his crude oil outlook for the day, Rahul Kalantri, VP (Commodities) of Mehta Equities Ltd, said crude oil prices jumped 4 per cent to over $121 a barrel on Wednesday as a weather-related disruption to Russian and Kazakh crude exports via the CPC pipeline added to worries over tight global supplies.
He said CPC pipeline has been in the spotlight as market is on the edge over the ripple effect of heavy sanctions on Russia. Crude oil prices were also supported by the decline in the US inventories.
Stating that decline in the inventories and supply concerns supported crude oil prices, he said: “We expect crude oil prices to remain positive in today’s session. Crude oil is having support at $109–104.5 and resistance is at $116.20–120 in today’s session. In rupee terms crude oil has support at ₹8,510-8,240; while resistance is at ₹8,900–9,050.”
March aluminium futures were trading at ₹298.30 on MCX in the initial hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹296.40, up by 0.64 per cent.
NCDEX
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), April cottonseed oilcake futures were trading at ₹3269 in the initial hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹3303, down by 1.03 per cent.
April steel long contracts were trading at ₹58700 on NCDEX in the initial hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹59510, down by 1.36 per cent.
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