Crude oil futures traded lower on Friday morning after the US eased some sanctions on the oil industry in Venezuela.
At 9.56 am on Friday, April Brent oil futures were at $68.52, down by 1.54 per cent, and March crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $64.33, down by 1.67 per cent. February crude oil futures were trading at ₹5935 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹6032, down by 1.61 per cent, and March futures were trading at ₹5926 against the previous close of ₹6021, up by 1.58 per cent.
A Reuters report said that the US Treasury authorised transactions involving the Venezuelan government and state oil company PDVSA related to ‘the lifting, exportation, reexportation, sale, resale, supply, storage, marketing, purchase, delivery, or transportation of Venezuelan-origin oil, including the refining of such oil, by an established US entity’.
It is to be noted here that the US forces had ousted the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.
In their Commodities Feed for Friday, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy of ING Think, and Ewa Manthey, Commodities Strategist, said oil prices continued their ascent on Thursday with ICE Brent rallying 3.38 per cent to settle above $70 a barrel, and its highest level since August. A range of factors is contributing to the move, including broad US dollar weakness, Kazakh supply disruptions, and developments in West Asia.
The market is becoming increasingly nervous over potential US action in Iran, with US vessels moving into the region and US President Donald Trump threatening an attack if Iran doesn’t make a deal regarding its nuclear programme. Iran’s foreign minister will be visiting Turkey today, with the Turkish government offering to mediate talks between the US and Iran.
They said that disruptions to Kazakh oil flows have certainly added to market tightness. There’s been a significant reduction in loadings at the CPC terminal, while repair work was carried out due to drone attacks towards the end of last year. Yet with this repair work complete, loadings should normalise, helping to ease some of the tightness.
Another factor contributing to a tighter market than the balance sheet shows includes reduced appetite among some refiners to buy Russian oil amid US sanctions and the EU ban on refined product imports from Russian oil.
“The latter would see some refiners, particularly in India, choose to process non-Russian oil. This is to ensure they can continue selling refined products into the EU. The difficulty Russia has in finding willing buyers is reflected in the large volume of Russian oil floating at sea. Generally, growing storage is considered a bearish factor. Yet if there are limited willing buyers for this oil, it might not be so bearish after all,” they said in the Commodities Feed.
February nickel futures were trading at ₹1,697.40 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹1722.10, down by 1.43 per cent.
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), April dhaniya contracts were trading at ₹11,658 in the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹11536, up by 1.06 per cent.
February guargum futures were trading at ₹10,430 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹10,370, up by 0.58 per cent.
Published on January 30, 2026
