Crude oil up as US imposes sanctions on oil tankers carrying Russian consignments

Crude oil futures traded higher on Friday morning as the US imposed the first sanctions on owners of tankers carrying Russian oil priced above $60 a barrel to punish seaborne oil exports from Russia.

At 9.52 am on Friday, December Brent oil futures were at $86.58, up by 0.67 per cent, and November crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $83.64, up by 0.88 per cent.

October crude oil futures were trading at ₹6,969 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during initial trading against the previous close of ₹6,896, up by 1.06 per cent; and November futures were trading at ₹6887 as against the previous close of ₹6818, up by 1.01 per cent.

On Thursday, the US imposed its first sanctions on owners of two tankers carrying Russian crude oil. Of them, one was from Turkey and another tanker was from the United Arab Emirates. Last year, G7 countries had imposed a price cap of $60 a barrel to curtail revenues for Russia from the sale of crude oil. It was seen as an effort to punish Russia for its war with Ukraine.

Demand seen unchanged

The price cap restricted the companies from providing services such as insurance, finance and shipping for Russian seaborne oil exports priced above $60 a barrel.

In its Monthly Oil Market Report, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) kept unchanged the world oil demand growth forecast for 2023 at 2.4 million barrels a day. It expected the higher-than-expected demand growth from China.

For 2024, world oil demand is expected to grow by a healthy 2.2 million barrels a day, unchanged from the previous month’s assessment, it said.

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Meanwhile, the petroleum status report by the US EIA (Energy Information Administration) for the week ending October 6 showed an increase in the crude oil inventories in the US. According to the report, US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 10.2 million barrels from the previous week.

Castorseed up, dhaniya down

October natural gas futures were trading at ₹277.50 on MCX against the previous close of ₹278.50, down by 0.36 per cent.

On NCDEX, castorseed December futures increased by 1.22 per cent to ₹6,120 a quintal. Dhaniya (coriander) December contracts dropped by 2.41 per cent to ₹6,952 a quintal.

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