Crude oil futures traded lower on Wednesday morning following reports of improved oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

At 10.01 am on Wednesday, September Brent oil futures were at $76.29, down by 0.66 per cent, and August crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $72.67, down by 0.74 per cent. July crude oil futures were trading at Rs 6926 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Wednesday against the previous close of Rs 6964, down by 0.55 per cent, and August futures were trading at Rs 6910 against the previous close of Rs 6940, down by 0.43 per cent.

In their Commodities Feed for Wednesday, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy of ING Think, and Ewa Manthey, Commodities Strategist, said oil prices continue to grind lower, with ICE Brent settling a little over 1 per cent lower on Tuesday. Positive signals from the Persian Gulf are fuelling optimism about oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

They said that vessel crossings increased in recent days, although they remain well below pre-war levels. Estimates suggest that roughly 6-7 million barrels a day of oil moved through the strait in recent days, which is still far below pre-war flows of around 20 million barrels a day.

“However, with pipeline diversions for Saudi Arabia and the UAE, we only need to see oil flows through the strait return to around 14 million barrels a day for oil supply from the Persian Gulf to return to pre-war levels. We continue to believe that the oil sell-off is overdone, with the market still tightening. Clearly, price movements suggest the market expects a fairly rapid recovery in Persian Gulf oil supplies,” they said.

Meanwhile, a Truth Social post by US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iran has ‘fully and completely’ agreed to highest level nuclear inspections long into the future.

“This will insure “Nuclear Honesty.” If they did not agree to this, there would be no further negotiations! Based on this and other major concessions being made by Iran, I have agreed to allow the Hormuz Strait to remain OPEN, with no further Naval Blockade,” he said.

June copper futures were trading at Rs 1263.90 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Wednesday against the previous close of Rs 1281.80, down by 1.40 per cent.

On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), August dhaniya contracts were trading at Rs 14708 in the initial hour of trading on Wednesday against the previous close of Rs 14794, down by 0.58 per cent.

July jeera futures were trading at Rs 20620 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Wednesday against the previous close of Rs 20740, down by 0.58 per cent. 

Source: The Hindu Business Line 

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