Oil prices tick higher as traders weigh renewed tensions over Iran against signs of improving regional supply and efforts to ease a global diesel shortage.
– Brent crude rose 29 cents to $102.60 a barrel as of 00:22 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained 27 cents to $93.14 in early trading.
– Prices had jumped sharply on Thursday after reports that the US was sending a third aircraft carrier and up to 10,000 additional troops to the Middle East as President Donald Trump weighs renewed strikes on Iran after the November midterm elections.
– “Now I have to make a decision. They’ll either sign a very fair deal, or they won’t exist any longer,” Trump told reporters at the White House, according to Reuters.
– Market concerns were also fuelled by China’s decision to halt most fuel exports for October. But those pressures were partly offset by recovering Saudi oil exports and a US push for European countries to release emergency diesel reserves.
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