Crude oil futures traded higher on Wednesday morning as the Iran crisis continued to disrupt supplies from major West Asian markets.
At 9.59 am on Wednesday, May Brent oil futures were at $82.64, up by 1.52 per cent, and April crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $75.40, up by 1.13 per cent. March crude oil futures were trading at ₹6973 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Wednesday against the previous close of ₹6970, up by 0.04 per cent, and April futures were trading at ₹6928 against the previous close of ₹6925, up by 0.04 per cent.
Attacks by the US and Israeli military forces on Iran continued for the fifth day. Iran retaliated by targeting energy infrastructure in West Asia, including the tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
In their Commodities Feed for Wednesday, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy of ING Think, and Ewa Manthey, Commodities Strategist, said oil prices surged above $85 a barrel on Tuesday, reaching their highest level since July 2024, amid growing concerns over oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz. There’s also growing unease about the damage to energy infrastructure resulting from attacks. However, the market gave back some of its gains to settle at $81.40 a barrel after US President Donald Trump said the US will ensure vessels can navigate the Strait of Hormuz and offer naval escorts if needed.
In a post on the social media platform Truth Social, Trump said: “Effective IMMEDIATELY, I have ordered the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to provide, at a very reasonable price, political risk insurance and guarantees for the Financial Security of ALL Maritime Trade, especially Energy, traveling through the Gulf. This will be available to all Shipping Lines. If necessary, the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, as soon as possible. No matter what, the United States will ensure the FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD. The United States’ ECONOMIC and MILITARY MIGHT is the GREATEST ON EARTH — More actions to come.”
ING Think’s Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said the promise of such guarantees comes as insurers are cancelling war risk coverage for vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz. This is welcome news, but clearly it won’t happen overnight. Naval escorts would be helpful, but again, this effort will take time. Naval escorts will be sitting ducks to Iranian attacks. So, the US may choose to wait before escorting vessels until it gauges that Iran’s ability to attack has been degraded. In addition, China is calling for the uninterrupted flow of energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. With the Iranian regime effectively fighting for its survival, it may choose to ignore China’s calls, they said.
The disruption to oil flows through the strait is starting to affect oil flows further upstream. There are reports that Iraq has started shutting in production at the Rumaila field, the country’s largest, and at West Qurna 2, with 1.2 million barrels a day going offline. The risk of further reductions in the coming days remains. Capacity constraints are the issue for Iraq, with storage tanks filling up, and a lack of available tankers in the Persian Gulf. Obviously, the longer disruptions persist, the more upstream production shut-ins we will see from the region, they said.
This highlights a key issue regarding OPEC’s spare production capacity, with the bulk of it located in the Persian Gulf. So, it’s of little help to the market amid Strait of Hormuz disruptions. Clearly, stronger OPEC output would help the market rebuild inventories once oil flows resume, they added.
March natural gas futures were trading at ₹280 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Wednesday against the previous close of ₹288.50, down by 2.95 per cent.
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), April turmeric (farmer polished) contracts were trading at ₹14,328 in the initial hour of trading on Wednesday against the previous close of ₹14,826, down by 3.36 per cent.
March jeera futures were trading at ₹21,150 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Wednesday against the previous close of ₹21,545, down by 1.83 per cent.
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Published on March 4, 2026
