Crude oil futures traded lower on Thursday morning after official data showed an increase in product inventories in the US.
At 9.58 am on Thursday, March Brent oil futures were at $76.05, down by 0.14 per cent, and February crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $73.20, down by 0.16 per cent.
January crude oil futures were trading at ₹6,298 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹6,307, down by 0.14 per cent, and February futures were trading at ₹6,279 against the previous close of ₹6,286, down by 0.11 per cent.
Weekly petroleum status report by the US EIA (Energy Information Administration) for the week ending January 3 showed an increase in product inventories. According to US EIA, total motor gasoline inventories increased by 6.3 million barrels from last week. Distillate fuel inventories increased by 6.1 million barrels last week. Total commercial petroleum inventories increased by 5 million barrels last week.
Market reports noted that this is the eighth straight week of product inventory build in the US, and this leads to concerns over the demand for products in one of the major consumers in the world.
US crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.9 million barrels a day during the week ending January 3, which was 44,000 barrels a day more than the previous week’s average. Gasoline production decreased last week, averaging 8.9 million barrels a day. Distillate fuel production decreased last week, averaging 5.2 million barrels a day.
Meanwhile, US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 1 million barrels for the week ending January 3. At 414.6 million barrels, US crude oil inventories were about 6 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.
US crude oil imports averaged 6.4 million barrels a day last week, a decrease of 497,000 barrels a day from the previous week.
January natural gas futures were trading at ₹313 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹314.10, down by 0.35 per cent.
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), January guarseed contracts were trading at ₹5,346 in the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹5,330, up by 0.30 per cent.
January dhaniya futures were trading at ₹7,770 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹7,796, down by 0.33 per cent.
