Crude oil futures traded higher on Thursday morning as fears continued over a possible attack by Israel on Iran’s oil facilities.
At 9.55 am on Thursday, December Brent oil futures were at $77.20, up by 0.81 per cent, and November crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $73.77, up by 0.72 per cent.
October crude oil futures were trading at ₹6206 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹6119, up by 1.42 per cent, and November futures were trading at ₹6171 against the previous close of ₹6084, up by 1.43 per cent.
Market players feel that there could be escalation in tension in West Asia following the recent developments in the region. As reported earlier, Iran launched a missile attack on Israel last week. Following this attack, Israel also vowed to retaliate. A Reuters report quoting the Defence Minister of Israel, Yoav Gallant, said Israel’s attack against Iran would be “lethal, precise and surprising”.
Any escalation in tensions could impact crude oil supplies from the region, as Iran is a major oil producer.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Milton has been impacting the fuel supplies in the US. The hurricane has already made landfall on Florida’s west coast. This has led to the increase in the demand for gasoline in Florida, as many of the fuel stations are running out of stock. This also supported crude oil prices.
Further increase in crude oil prices was limited as the latest data showed an increase in crude oil inventories in the US for the week ending October 4.
According to US EIA (Energy Information Administration), US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 5.8 million barrels for the week ending October 4. At 422.7 million barrels, US crude oil inventories were about 4 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year. Market was expecting the inventories to go up by around 2 million barrels for the week ending October 4.
Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 6.3 million barrels from last week and were about 4 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 20.6 million barrels a day, up by 2.9 per cent from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 9 million barrels a day, up by 7.5 per cent from the same period last year.
October zinc futures were trading at ₹278.10 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹276.45, up by 0.60 per cent.
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), October guargum contracts were trading at ₹11065 in the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹10965, up by 0.91 per cent.
November dhaniya futures were trading at ₹7460 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹7450, up by 0.13 per cent.