Crude oil futures were trading lower and the natural gas futures were trading higher on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) on Thursday morning. January crude oil futures were trading at ₹5,726 in the initial hour of Thursday morning trade as against the previous close of ₹5,828, down by 1.75 per cent. March Brent oil futures were at $79.69, down by 1.37 per cent and February crude oil futures on WTI were trading at $76.80, down by 1.35 per cent.