The reported decline in crude oil inventories in the US and the drop in crude oil production by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) helped crude oil futures gain on the commodity exchanges. At the time of filing this report, June Brent oil futures were at $108.24, down by 4.34 per cent; and June crude oil futures on WTI were at $102.95, up by 0.88 per cent.

May crude oil futures were trading at ₹7,898 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) in the initial hour of Wednesday morning against the previous close of ₹7,865, up by 0.42 per cent; and June futures were trading at ₹7,861 against the previous close of ₹7,829, up by 0.41 per cent.

However, the Brent crude oil futures declined by 5.2 per cent on Tuesday as the IMF slashed its forecast for world economic growth. IMF’s forecast was based on the developments such as Russia-Ukraine war and lockdowns in China.

According to reports, the American Petroleum Institute (API) has indicated a drop of 4.5 million barrels of crude oil in the US crude inventories. However, the official data will be released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) later on Wednesday. Any confirmation of the API report will be a huge drop in the US crude oil inventory holdings since February.

Meanwhile, a Reuters reported that OPEC and its allies (known as OPEC+) produced 1.45 million barrels a day, below its production targets in March. This is mainly because of the decline in the Russian crude oil output due to the sanctions by US, UK and some other European nations.

Protests in Libya against the Prime Minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, have also affected the crude oil production and loading from that country. This has made an impact on the already tight global oil market. April rubber futures were trading at ₹16,628 on MCX in the initial hour of Wednesday morning against the previous close of ₹17,199, down by 3.32 per cent.

NCDEX

On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), May turmeric (farmer polished) futures were trading at ₹8,800 in the initial hour of Wednesday morning against the previous close of ₹8,746, up by 0.62 per cent. May steel long contracts were trading at ₹58,120 on NCDEX in the initial hour of Wednesday morning against the previous close of ₹59,230, down by 1.87 per cent.