SINGAPORE (Reuters): Oil prices rose more than 1% on Friday as investors focused on talks between the United States and Iran, but they remained on track for a weekly decline.
Brent crude futures rose 83 cents, or 1.2%, to $68.38 a barrel by 1000 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 84 cents, or 1.3%, at $64.13 a barrel.
Still, Brent was set to end the week 3.3% down, as WTI headed for a weekly fall of 1.7%.
"Investors are watching the U.S.-Iran talks, and their sentiment is shaped by the outcome of these talks," said Tamas Varga, an oil analyst at brokerage PVM.
"The uncertainty is about whether this could lead to supply disruptions and how big. It doesn't look like these two countries can come to a long-term agreement," he said.
Lack of consensus on the agenda for the meeting between Iran and the United States in Oman has kept investors anxious about geopolitical risk.
Iran wants to stick to nuclear issues, while the United States wants to discuss Iran's ballistic missiles and support for armed groups in the region.
Any escalation of tension between the two nations could disrupt oil flows, since about a fifth of the world's total consumption passes through the Strait of Hormuz between Oman and Iran.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Iraq export most of their crude via the strait, as does fellow OPEC member Iran.
If the U.S.-Iran talks ease the prospect of conflict in the region, oil prices could decline further.
"We think that geopolitical fears will give way to weak fundamentals," Capital Economics analysts said in a note, pointing to a recovery in Kazakhstan's oil output that will help push prices lower, towards $50 a barrel, by the end of 2026.
On a weekly basis, prices were weighed down by a broader selloff in markets and by persisting expectations of an oversupply of oil, analysts said.
Saudi Arabia cut the official selling price of its Arab Light crude to Asia for March to around a five-year low on Thursday, marking the fourth straight month of price cuts.
"The underlying fundamental backdrop is not really encouraging; it implies an oversupplied market," said PVM's Varga.
(Reporting by Anna Hirtenstein in London. Additional reporting by Florence Tan and Sudarshan Varadhan in Singapore; Editing by Sonali Paul, Clarence Fernandez and Joe Bavier) -- Reuters
