Crude oil futures traded lower Thursday morning as the petroleum product inventories went up in the US.
At 9.54 am, the August Brent oil futures were at $76.73, down by 0.29 per cent; and July crude oil futures on WTI were at $72.33, down by 0.28 per cent.
June crude oil futures were trading at ₹5,981 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) in the early deals against the previous close of ₹6,004, down by 0.38 per cent; and July futures were at ₹6,008 against the previous close of ₹6,033, down by 0.41 per cent.
Petroleum status report by the US EIA (Energy Information Administration) for the week ending June 2, released on June 7, showed an increase in the inventories of petroleum products.
Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 2.7 million barrels from last week. Both the finished gasoline and blending components inventories increased last week as well as distillate fuel by 5.1 million barrels. This increase in inventories raised concerns in the market over demand for products in US, which is a major consumer of oil globally.
However, the crude oil inventories declined in the US during the period. The US commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the strategic petroleum reserve) decreased by 0.5 million barrels from the previous week. At 459.2 million barrels, the US crude oil inventories were 2 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Meanwhile, the US crude oil imports averaged 6.4 million barrels per day last week, a decrease of 817,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.6 million barrels per day, 3.5 per cent higher than the same four-week period last year.
June menthaoil futures were trading at ₹907.40 on MCX in the early deals against the previous close of ₹902, up by 0.60 per cent.
Cottonseed oilcake
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), June cottonseed oilcake contracts were trading at ₹2503 in the initial trading hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹2542, down by 1.53 per cent.
June dhaniya futures were trading at ₹5926 on NCDEX in the initial trading hour of Thursday morning against the previous close of ₹6002, down by 1.27 per cent.