Crude oil futures traded lower on Thursday morning as the market focussed on tensions surrounding tariff wars.

At 9.59 am on Thursday, May Brent oil futures were at $70.90, down by 0.07 per cent, and April crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $67.57, down by 0.16 per cent. March crude oil futures were trading at ₹5,885 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹5,907, down by 0.37 per cent, and April futures were trading at ₹5,891 against the previous close of ₹5,906; down by 0.25 per cent.

Tensions surrounding tariff wars continued among major economies as the US President Donald Trump threatened to impose more tariffs on goods from European Union (EU) as the EU members said they would retaliate to the tariffs imposed by the US. The escalation in tariffs wars has affected the sentiments of major economies across the world.

US, which is a major consumer of crude oil in the global market, witnessed an increase in crude oil inventories for the week ending March 7.

Weekly petroleum status report by the US EIA (Energy Information Administration) showed that US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 1.4 million barrels for the week ending March 7. At 435.2 million barrels, US crude oil inventories were about 5 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.

Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 5.7 million barrels from last week and were 1 per cent above the five-year average for this time of year.

Total products supplied in the US over the last four-week period averaged 20.7 million barrels a day, up by 3.9 per cent from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 8.7 million barrels a day, up by 0.1 per cent from the same period last year.

In their Commodities Feed for Thursday, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy of ING Think, and Ewa Manthey, Commodities Strategist, said a lower-than-expected increase in US crude oil inventories supported the market, while better-than-expected US consumer price inflation data also helped sentiment.

EIA data shows that US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 1.45 million barrels over the last week. That’s less than the roughly 2 million barrels build the market was expecting, they said.

ING Think’s Commodities Feed said that latest monthly oil market report of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), which was released on Wednesday, left both demand and supply estimates unchanged for 2025 and 2026. OPEC continues to forecast that 2025 oil demand will grow by 1.45 million barrels a day year on year, while demand grows at 1.43 million barrels a day next year. OPEC remains fairly bullish on demand, with their numbers above both the EIA and the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Commodities Feed said.

March natural gas futures were trading at ₹353.40 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹362.30, down by 2.46 per cent.

On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), March guargum contracts were trading at ₹10024 in the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹10,052; down by 0.28 per cent.

April turmeric (farmer polished) futures were trading at ₹11,378 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹11,400; down by 0.19 per cent.