Crude oil futures traded higher on Friday morning after G7 countries announced plans to intensify actions against Russia, targeting those increasing their purchases of Russian oil.
At 9.57 am on Friday, December Brent oil futures were at $64.49, up by 0.59 per cent, and November crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $60.82, up by 0.56 per cent. October crude oil futures were trading at ₹5,415 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹5.493, down by 1.42 per cent, and November futures were trading at ₹5,405 against the previous close of ₹5,471, down by 1.21 per cent.
A statement issued by the G7 Finance Ministers said that the group is taking steps to increase the economic costs of Russia’s war efforts by imposing restrictive measures on key sectors and supporters of the Russian economy such as energy, finance, the military industrial base, special economic zones, and enablers and profiteers. This will cut off the funds sustaining Russia’s military aggression and will have a powerful impact against those who violate those restrictive measures, it said.
“We agreed that now is the time to maximise pressure on Russia’s oil exports, a major source of their revenue. We will target those who are continuing to increase their purchase of Russian oil since the invasion of Ukraine and those that are facilitating circumvention.
“We agreed on the importance of trade measures, including tariffs and import/export bans, in our efforts to cut off Russian revenues. We will take concrete measures to significantly reduce, with the objective of phasing out, our remaining imports from Russia, including on hydrocarbon imports,” it said.
G7 is giving serious consideration to trade measures and other restrictions on countries and entities that are helping finance Russia’s war efforts, including on refined products sourced from Russian oil, the statement said.
Russia is one of the major producers of crude oil in the world market.
Meanwhile, there was an increase in US crude oil inventories for the week ending September 26. According to the latest weekly petroleum status report by the US EIA (Energy Information Administration), US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 1.8 million barrels for the week ending September 26.
Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 4.1 million barrels from last week, and distillate fuel inventories increased by 0.6 million barrels last week. Total products supplied in the US over the last four-week period averaged 20.3 million barrels a day, up by 1.2 per cent from the same period last year.
October copper futures were trading at ₹970.50 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Friday against the previous close of ₹957.65, up by 1.34 per cent.
Published on October 3, 2025