Brent crude futures were down 21 cents, or 0.22%, at $95.24 a barrel by 0003 GMT, after down 2.84% in the previous session.
US West Texas Intermediate crude was down 10 cents, or 0.11%, at $92.94 a barrel after losing 3.1% on Thursday.
Both contracts are set to post their first weekly gains in three weeks, with WTI up more than 6%, after fighting flared in the Middle East, US-Iran war peace talks continued while traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes, remained limited.
Analysts have expressed concern that a decline in oil inventories globally could push up prices in the third quarter.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Thursday rejected a US-brokered deal between Israel and the Lebanese government to end fighting. Iran has made a ceasefire in Lebanon a condition for any peace deal with Washington.
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he believes progress is being made between Israel and Lebanon and that Lebanon deserves peace.
“Any optimism remains heavily clouded by a tangled web of headlines and counter-headlines,” IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said in a note.
“From a technical perspective, as long as (WTI) crude oil remains above trendline support in the low $80s, risks remain tilted to the upside.”
Despite the Middle East conflict and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Secretary General Haitham al-Ghais said on Thursday that OPEC is sticking to its forecast of 1.2 million barrels per day of oil demand growth for this year.
According to shipping data, Iranian oil exports fell to their lowest level in six years, mainly due to the US naval blockade, although oil prices fell due to weak demand in China.
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