Crude oil futures rise on supply disruption fears

Crude oil futures traded higher on Thursday morning amid fears of supply disruptions following recent attacks on ships in the West Asia region and concerns over the possible impact of the hurricane on US oil production.

At 9.37 am on Thursday, December Brent oil futures were at $102.35, up by 2.15 per cent, and November crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $89.84, up by 1.77 per cent. October crude oil futures were trading at ₹8,699 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹8,552, up by 1.72 per cent, and November futures were trading at ₹8,655 against the previous close of ₹8,506, up by 1.75 per cent.

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A statement by United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre said that it received a report of an incident on Wednesday, 51 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar. A tanker has reported being struck by multiple projectiles. Casualties have been reported, it said.

US National Hurricane Center said tropical Storm Isaias is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane before reaching the southern US coast early on Saturday. This could bring heavy rains, storm surges, and possible tornadoes across several states.

Reports said that the storm is expected to pass through areas with significant offshore oil and gas production, along with onshore refining facilities.

The weekly petroleum status report by the US EIA (Energy Information Administration) showed a decline in crude oil inventories for the week ending October 2.

According to EIA, US commercial crude oil inventories decreased 3.2 million barrels to 424.1 million barrels, 1 per cent above the five-year average. Gasoline inventories increased 0.4 million barrels, 6 per cent below the five-year average. Distillate inventories remained unchanged, 12 per cent below the five-year average.

Over the past four weeks, total products supplied in the US averaged 21.1 million barrels per day, up 0.7 per cent year over year. The four-week average for gasoline product supplied decreased 0.3 per cent year over year to 8.8 million barrels per day, while the four-week average for distillate product supplied decreased 1.6 per cent to 3.8 million barrels per day. The four-week average for jet fuel product supplied increased 6 per cent year over year.

Meanwhile, the members of the IEA (International Energy Agency) have extended support for accelerating the oil stock releases announced in the Collective Action of March 2026 with a view to completing them as soon as possible. IEA Members also supported the prioritisation of the release of diesel stocks, to the extent possible, given the current tightness in diesel markets.

To date, approximately 325 million barrels of oil have been released under the March 2026 Collective Action, with some countries having released greater volumes than they initially pledged. The full release of all the stocks that had been pledged but have not yet been released from the March 2026 Collective Action would bring approximately 100 million barrels to the market, an IEA statement said.

IEA Member governments still have significant levels of publicly held emergency oil stocks – equivalent to around 1.1 billion barrels, including over 200 million barrels of diesel. The IEA stands ready to release more of these stocks to the market if and when required, it said.