Crude oil futures traded lower on Wednesday morning due to the anticipated increase in crude oil supplies and uncertainties surrounding US tariffs.

At 9.54 am on Wednesday, May Brent oil futures were at $70.75, down by 0.41 per cent, and April crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $67.61, down by 0.95 per cent. March crude oil futures were trading at ₹5,906 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Wednesday against the previous close of ₹5,960, down by 0.91 per cent, and April futures were trading at ₹5,893 against the previous close of ₹5,945, down by 0.87 per cent.

The recent meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, had decided to proceed with a gradual and flexible return of the 2.2 million barrels per day voluntary adjustments starting on April 1, while remaining adaptable to evolving conditions. The meeting also Accordingly decided to pause or reverse the gradual increase subject to market conditions, as it felt this flexibility would allow the group to continue to support oil market stability.

Meanwhile, the market players feel that the US tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, which came into effect on Tuesday, can impact the supply of crude oil and affect the global economic growth.

In their Commodities Feed for Wednesday, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy of ING Think, and Ewa Manthey, Commodities Strategist, said the oil market came under pressure again on Tuesday with ICE Brent settling a little more than 0.8 per cent lower. WTI is trading lower in early morning trading on Wednesday.

“The prospect of rising OPEC+ supply, combined with intensifying uncertainty over tariffs, hit oil market sentiment. Overnight, there were suggestions that the Trump administration is considering some tariff relief on imports from Canada and Mexico. But heightened uncertainty is sending investors to the sidelines. This is evidenced by a reduction in speculative positioning in both WTI and Brent in recent weeks,” they said.

The US administration has given Chevron until April 3 to wind down its operations in Venezuela. Despite sanctions, Chevron previously had a license to operate in the country and export crude oil to the US. As production stops, 200,000 barrels a day of supply is at risk. This will leave US refiners looking for alternative heavy grades of crude oil just as other suppliers — Canada and Mexico — face tariffs, the Commodities Feed said.

Numbers overnight from the American Petroleum Institute (API) show US crude oil inventories fell by 1.5 million barrels over the last week. On the product side, gasoline stocks declined by 1.2 million barrels and distillate inventories increased by 1.1 million barrels. “It was a fairly neutral release. Even so, the market is more focused on tariffs at the moment,” they said in the Commodities Feed.

March natural gas futures were trading at ₹376.70 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Wednesday against the previous close of ₹387.30, down by 2.74 per cent.

On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), March guargum contracts were trading at ₹9,900 in the initial hour of trading on Wednesday against the previous close of ₹9,866, up by 0.34 per cent.

March jeera futures were trading at ₹21,180 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Wednesday against the previous close of ₹21,335, down by 0.73 per cent.