Crude oil futures gain 2.35% to settle at Rs 3,074 a barrel for the week

In the futures market, crude oil for August delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 3,165 and an intraday low of Rs 3,084 per barrel on MCX.

Crude oil futures settled with a gain of Rs 71, or 2.35 percent at Rs 3,074 per barrel for the week but pared gains on the last day of the week on rebounding dollar, global economic recovery concerns and fears over rising coronavirus cases.

The number of rigs drilling crude oil in the US decreased by 4to 176 rigs this week, lowest since July 2005, said Baker Hughes in its weekly report.

Crude oil which has been trading in the range of $41-44 barrel for a while touched the high of $46/barrel on Wednesday, the highest since March.

Iraq on August 6 pledged that it would make an additional cut of 400,000 barrels per day in August to compensate for its past overproduction under the OPEC+ supply reduction pact, according to a statement from Iraq’s oil ministry.

In the futures market, crude oil for August delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 3,165 and an intraday low of Rs 3,084 per barrel on MCX. So far in the current series, black gold has touched a low of Rs 2,520 and a high of Rs 3,263.

Crude oil delivery for August slipped Rs 58, or 1.84 percent, to settle at Rs 3,094 per barrel with a business turnover of 1,324 lots. Crude delivery for September edged lower by Rs 60, or 1.88 percent, to close at Rs 3,126 per barrel with a business volume of 135 lots.

The value of August and September's contracts traded on August 7 was Rs 2,843.68 crore and Rs 8.52 crore, respectively.

West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 0.93 percent at $41.56 per barrel, while Brent crude, the London-based international benchmark was down 0.95 percent to $44.66 per barrel.