Crude oil futures saw an uptick in trading on Thursday morning following the release of the US EIA’s report showing a decrease in distillate and gasoline inventories for the week ending March 14.
As of 9:56 am on Thursday, May Brent oil futures were up by 0.62% at $71.22, while May crude oil futures on WTI stood at $67.33, marking a 0.63% increase. On the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), April crude oil futures were trading at ₹5831, up by 0.15%, and May futures were at ₹5834, up by 0.28%.
The US EIA reported a decline in total motor gasoline inventories by 0.5 million barrels, with both finished gasoline inventories and blending components inventories decreasing. Distillate fuel inventories also dropped by 2.8 million barrels, standing about 6% below the five-year average.
However, US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 1.7 million barrels, reaching 437 million barrels, which is about 5% below the five-year average. This data was lower than the American Petroleum Institute’s estimates of a 4.59 million barrel increase.
In their Commodities Feed for Thursday, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy at ING Think, and Ewa Manthey, Commodities Strategist, noted that oil prices edged higher on Wednesday due to a recovery in equity markets and a supportive inventory report from the EIA.
They highlighted that US gasoline inventories have been declining for three consecutive weeks, reaching their lowest levels since early January. Despite a decrease in implied demand and a slight increase in refinery utilization, gasoline inventories continued to drop.
The EIA reported that total products supplied in the US over the last four-week period averaged 20.6 million barrels per day, up by 2.5% from the same period last year. Motor gasoline product supply remained steady, while distillate fuel product supply saw an 8.3% increase.
Crude oil prices also received a boost from heightened tensions in West Asia, as Israel initiated ground operations in Gaza and the US continued operations against Houthis in Yemen.
Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve maintained its interest rates on Wednesday and adjusted its inflation forecast while lowering expectations for US economic growth.
March aluminium futures on MCX were up by 0.40%, trading at ₹263.50. On NCDEX, April jeera contracts saw a 0.42% increase, trading at ₹21540, while April turmeric (farmer polished) futures were down by 0.60% at ₹12672 in the initial hour of trading on Thursday.
