Crude oil futures traded flat on Friday morning after US President Donald Trump announced plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war.
At 9.56 am on Friday, December Brent oil futures were at $61.03, down by 0.05 per cent, and November crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $57.45, down by 0.02 per cent.
October crude oil futures were trading at ₹5056 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹5066, down by 0.20 per cent, and November futures were trading at ₹5028 against the previous close of ₹5048, down by 0.40 per cent.
In a post on social media platform Truth Social, Trump said he had a telephone conversation with Putin. Terming it as a productive conversation, he said:
“At the conclusion of the call, we agreed that there will be a meeting of our High Level Advisors, next week. The United States’ initial meetings will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, together with various other people, to be designated. A meeting location is to be determined. President Putin and I will then meet in an agreed upon location, Budapest, Hungary, to see if we can bring this ‘inglorious’ War, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end. President Zelenskyy and I will be meeting tomorrow, in the Oval Office, where we will discuss my conversation with President Putin, and much more. I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation.”
Market reports noted that any positive outcome from the proposed meeting could help ease restrictions on Russian oil exports. This could further add to the surplus in the world market.
“We also spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over,” Trump said.
In a separate post on Truth Social, Trump said: “If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them.”
Meanwhile, weekly petroleum status report by the US EIA (Energy Information Administration) showed an increase in crude oil inventories in the US for the week ending October 10.
According to EIA, US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 3.5 million barrels for the week ending October 10. Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 0.3 million barrels from last week, and distillate fuel inventories decreased by 4.5 million barrels.
Total products supplied in the US over the last four-week period averaged 20.7 million barrels a day, down by 0.5 per cent from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 8.7 million barrels a day, down by 3.2 per cent from the same as the last year period. Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 4 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, up by 0.2 per cent from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was down 4.8 per cent compared with the same four-week period last year.
October natural gas futures were trading at ₹256.30 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹259.90, down by 1.39 per cent.
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), December turmeric (farmer polished) contracts were trading at ₹14860 in the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹14664, up by 1.34 per cent.
November dhaniya futures were trading at ₹8092 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹8136, down by 0.54 per cent.
Published on October 17, 2025