Muscat: Oil prices rose more than 1% in early trade today as diplomatic efforts between Iran and the United States faltered and markets closely monitored developments related to the conflict in the Middle East and their potential impact on global energy supplies. Brent crude futures gained $1.05, or 1.09%, to $97.05 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) advanced crude $1.01, or 1.08%, to $94.77. Both benchmarks had stabilized at their highest levels in a week in the previous session.
According to Oman News Agency, on the supply front, US crude oil inventories fell by 6.8 million barrels last week, marking the seventh consecutive weekly decline, the American Petroleum Institute (API) data revealed yesterday. Distillate inventories also decreased by 214,000 barrels, while gasoline inventories rose by 3.5 million barrels during the same week.