Crude oil futures remained steady on Friday morning as the official data showed an increase in the inventories in the US for the week ending February 14.
At 9.57 am on Friday, April Brent oil futures were at $76.43, down by 0.07 per cent, and April crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $72.44, down by 0.06 per cent.
March crude oil futures were trading at ₹6290 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹6316, down by 0.41 per cent, and April futures were trading at ₹6293 against the previous close of ₹6332, down by 0.62 per cent.
According to the US EIA (Energy Information Administration), US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 4.6 million barrels for the week ending February 14 from the previous week. At 432.5 million barrels, US crude oil inventories were about 3 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.
However, there was decline in the inventory levels of petroleum products in the US during the period. Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 0.2 million barrels from last week and were 1 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 2.1 million barrels last week and were about 12 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 20.4 million barrels a day, up by 3.7 per cent from the same period last year.
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Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 8.4 million barrels a day, up by 0.4 per cent from the same period last year. Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 4.3 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, up by 14.2 per cent from the same period last year.
Jet fuel product supplied was up 4.3 per cent compared with the same four-week period last year.
The moves by the US administration to end war between Russia and Ukraine also brought downward pressure on the oil market during the week. Though the Ukraine President, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, had expressed his displeasure earlier this week over the moves by the US and Russia to negotiate a peace deal to end war between Russia and Ukraine, the US President Donald Trump, had blamed Ukraine for starting war with Russia.
Meanwhile, Zelenskiy met the US envoy, Keith Kellogg, on Thursday. After meeting the envoy, he said Ukraine is ready to work quickly to produce a strong agreement on investments and security with the United States.
Market players feel that any peace deal between Russia and Ukraine will help lift some sanctions on Russia. This will help increase the supply of crude oil from the region. Russia is one of the major producers of crude oil in the world market.
March natural gas futures were trading at ₹357.90 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹349.20, up by 2.49 per cent.
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), March cottonseed oilcake contracts were trading at ₹2713 in the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹2709, up by 0.15 per cent.
March guarseed futures were trading at ₹5296 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹5302, down by 0.11 per cent.
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