Crude oil futures flat at Rs 2,909 per barrel, Brent reclaims $41/bbl

Crude oil futures were trading flat at Rs 2,909 per barrel on June 18 as participants increased their long positions. The black gold is likely to take further cue from OPEC+ meeting starting June 18 to review compliance about output cuts by member nations.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that US crude inventories jumped 1.2 million barrels to 539.3 for the week ended June 12.

Tapan Patel, Senior Analyst (Commodities), HDFC Securities, said crude oil prices continued their downside on June 18 on growing worries over a demand recovery as rising virus cases in China raised questions over the growth in fuel demand.

Beijing has cancelled flights over rise in virus cases, with total infections at 150 by June 18. The record levels of US crude oil inventories also pressured oil prices after weekly oil inventories rose by 1.2 million barrels in the previous week.

In the futures market, crude oil for June delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 2,926 and an intraday low of Rs 2,846 per barrel on the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX). So far in the current series, black gold has touched a low of Rs 1,361 and a high of Rs 4,415.

Crude oil futures for June delivery gained Rs 2, or 0.07 percent, to Rs 2,909 per barrel at 15:17 hours IST on a business turnover of 3,646 lots.

The same for July delivery was up by Rs 2, or 0.07 percent, to Rs 2,940 per barrel on a business volume of 1,210 lots.

The value of June and July contracts traded so far is Rs 1,183.71 crore and Rs 60.24 crore, respectively.

Patel expects oil prices to trade sideways with support at $37 and resistance at $40. "MCX June Crude Oil futures has support at Rs 2,820 with resistance at Rs 2,970."

West Texas Intermediate crude gained 0.42 percent at $38.12 per barrel, while Brent crude, the London-based international benchmark, was up 0.79 percent to $41.03 per barrel.