Oil prices rose 0.4% Thursday after a 4% gain in the prior session, as US-Iran talks showed no concrete progress. At 0630 GMT, Brent was $103.51 a barrel and WTI $92.51; Tehran was reviewing Washington’s response to its peace proposals, an Iranian official said.
Iran’s peace proposals prioritize lifting a US naval blockade on its ports and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Security chief Mohsen Rezaei said the strait would not reopen until Iran’s conditions were met; US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a deal would take hard work over time and President Donald Trump had military options.
US crude inventories rose 3 million barrels to 426.4 million last week, compared with analysts’ forecast of a 641,000-barrel draw; distillate stocks, including diesel and heating oil, fell 428,000 to 107.4 million. Diesel futures fell about 5% in midday trading after Politico reported the administration was preparing a 90-day export ban, which the White House denied. Analysts warned the ban could do little to ease high energy prices, worsen global supplies and further disrupt economies.
