Ammon News - Oil prices were little changed on Thursday, reversing earlier declines, on scepticism ‌that peace talks between the U.S. and Iran will reach a deal to end the war that has bottled up oil output from the key Middle East producing region.

Brent crude futures were up 9 cents to $95.02 a barrel at 0427 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude ​futures climbed 44 cents to $91.73 a barrel.

Both benchmarks settled little changed on Wednesday but traded in a wide range.

The ​U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has resulted in the largest-ever disruption of global oil and gas ⁠supplies due to Iran's interruption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which typically carries about 20% of the ​world's oil and liquefied natural gas flows.

With the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports announced after the collapse of peace talks over the weekend, the disruption could increase.

A source briefed by Tehran told Reuters that Iran could consider allowing ships to sail freely ​through the Omani side of ​the Strait of Hormuz ⁠if a deal was reached to prevent renewed conflict after a two-week ceasefire started on April 8.

U.S. and Iranian officials were weighing a return to Pakistan for further talks as early ​as the coming weekend. Pakistan's army chief arrived in Tehran on Wednesday as a mediator ​to try to prevent ⁠a renewal of the conflict.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that Washington will not be renewing the waivers that allowed the purchase of some Iranian and Russian oil without facing U.S. sanctions.

Underscoring the tightness of global crude and ⁠oil product ​supply, U.S. inventories of oil, gasoline and distillate fuels fell last week, ​the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, as imports declined and exports jumped to meet the needs of countries searching for barrels to replace ​the disrupted flows.

Reuters