Crude oil futures rebounded from Wednesday’s lows after the US offered some concessions on recent tariffs.
At 9.56 am on Thursday, May Brent oil futures were at $69.68, up by 0.55 per cent, and April crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $66.71, up by 0.60 per cent. March crude oil futures were trading at ₹5,817 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹5,756, up by 1.06 per cent, and April futures were trading at ₹5,806 against the previous close of ₹5,748, up by 1.01 per cent.
US announced on Wednesday that the US President, Donald Trump, will exempt automakers from his 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for one month as long as they comply with existing free trade rules. It also said that Trump is also open to hearing about other products that should be exempted from the tariffs.
Quoting a source, a Reuters report said that Trump may eliminate the 10 per cent tariff on Canadian energy imports, such as crude oil and gasoline, that comply with existing trade agreements.
These developments helped the crude oil to rebound from Wednesday’s lows.
In their Commodities Feed for Thursday, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy of ING Think, and Ewa Manthey, Commodities Strategist, said sentiment remains negative in the oil market, with ICE Brent falling close to 2.5 per cent on Wednesday. It settled below $70 a barrel after briefly trading to its lowest level in three years. Rising OPEC supply and prospects for further increases, combined with ever-present tariff uncertainty, pushed the market lower.
They said that the recent price weakness makes it difficult for US producers to ‘drill, baby, drill’. While prompt WTI is trading below $67 a barrel, forward values are even weaker. “The calendar 2026 price is trading around $63 a barrel, reducing incentives for producers to increase drilling activity. If anything, we’re likely to see a bigger pullback in activity,” they said.
Citing the Dallas Federal Reserve Energy Survey, they said producers need, on average, a $64 a barrel price level to drill a new well profitably.
Meanwhile, the latest weekly petroleum status data by the US EIA (Energy Information Administration) for the week ending February 28 showed an increase in crude oil inventories in the US.
According to EIA, US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 3.6 million barrels from the previous week. At 433.8 million barrels, US crude oil inventories were about 4 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 1.4 million barrels from last week and were 1 per cent above the five-year average for this time of year.
Total products supplied in the US over the last four-week period averaged 20.2 million barrels a day, up by 3.4 per cent from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 8.5 million barrels a day, up by 0.9 per cent from the same period last year.
March aluminium futures were trading at ₹263.65 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹261.25, up by 0.92 per cent.
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), April dhaniya contracts were trading at ₹,8016 in the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹7,978, up by 0.48 per cent.
April jeera futures were trading at ₹20,790 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹20,965, down by 0.83 per cent.
