HOUSTON
\nPrices climbed over $1 a barrel for Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude on Friday as investors grew worried talks between Iran and US representatives were not making enough progress to prevent military action.
\nBrent crude futures climbed $1.21 a barrel, or 1.79 per cent, to $68.76 at 11:30 a.m. CST (1730 GMT), while US West Texas Intermediate crude was up $1.01, or 1.6pc, at $64.30 a barrel.
\nIran and the United States held negotiations via Omani mediation on Friday to try to overcome sharp differences over Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme.
\n\u201cGoing into next week, you don\u2019t know if there is going to be an attack or not,\u201d said Phil Flynn, senior analyst with Price Futures Group. Iranian state TV reported in late afternoon that the talks had ended.
\nIran\u2019s foreign minister said negotiators will return to their capitals for consultations, and the talks will continue.
\nAhead of the talks, a lack of consensus on the agenda for the meeting kept investors anxious about geopolitical risk, as Iran wanted to stick to nuclear issues, while the US wanted to discuss Iran\u2019s ballistic missiles and support for armed groups in the region.
\nAny escalation of tension between the two nations could disrupt oil flows, since about a fifth of the world\u2019s total consumption passes through the Strait of Hormuz between Oman and Iran.
\nSaudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq export most of their crude via the strait, as does fellow Opec member Iran.
\nIf the prospect of conflict in the region eases, oil prices could decline further.
\nKazakhstan\u2019s planned oil exports could fall by as much as 35pc this month via its main route through Russia, four trading sources have told Reuters, as the giant Tengiz oilfield slowly recovers from fires at power facilities in January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HOUSTON Prices climbed over $1 a barrel for Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude on Friday as investors grew worried talks between Iran and US representatives were not making enough progress to prevent military action. Brent crude futures climbed $1.21 a barrel, or 1.79 per cent, to $68.76 at 11:30 a.m. CST (1730 GMT), while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-530140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n