Crude oil futures traded lower on Friday morning after the US said it may soon remove sanctions on Iranian oil stranded on tankers at sea.
At 9.56 am on Friday, May Brent oil futures were at $106.99, down by 1.53 per cent, and May crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $93.62, down by 2.02 per cent. April crude oil futures were trading at ₹8790 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹8998, down by 2.31 per cent, and May futures were trading at ₹8561 against the previous close of ₹8765, down by 2.33 per cent.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business Network’s ‘Mornings with Maria’ programme that Us may remove sanctions on the Iranian oil that’s on the water. According to him, around 140 million barrels will be available under this.
In their Commodities Feed for Friday, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy of ING Think, and Ewa Manthey, Commodities Strategist, said ICE Brent eased from its intraday high of $119 a barrel on Thursday, with it trading back below $108 a barrel.
This comes after Israel said it would no longer target Iranian energy infrastructure. There are also suggestions that US President Donald Trump may ease some sanctions on Iranian oil to help limit price gains. Additional downward pressure reflects the US administration ruling out export restrictions on oil. There were suggestions of such a move. This added to the growing disconnect between Brent and WTI, with the Brent-WTI spread trading to $13 a barrel, the widest level since 2014, they said.
Stating that the global LNG market is set to be tighter than originally expected for the foreseeable future following Iranian attacks on Ras Laffen in Qatar, they said the attacks have impacted 17 per cent of Qatar Energy site’s LNG export capacity. This is equivalent to just over 17 bcm, around 3 per cent of global LNG trade. It could take three-five years to bring this capacity back online.
The large global LNG surplus that the market had expected through 2027 is looking much more elusive, they said.
April natural gas futures were trading at ₹291 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹294.50, down by 1.19 per cent.
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), April guargum contracts were trading at ₹10068 in the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹993, up by 075 per cent.
April turmeric (farmer polished) futures were trading at ₹14848 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹14742, up by 0.72 per cent.
Published on March 20, 2026
