Oil prices rise on US response to Iran nuclear deal comment

A ship loads crude oil at the Bonga offshore oil field off Lagos

By Laura Chanicola

(Reuters) – Oil prices rose on Wednesday after choppy trading on concerns that the United States would not consider additional concessions to Iran in response to a draft agreement to restore the Tehran nuclear deal – and worries about OPEC member nations’ oil exports.

Iran said it had received a response from the United States to the European Union’s “final” text on Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.

Brent crude was up $1 at $101.22 and U.S. crude was up $1.15 at $94.89 a barrel. Both benchmarks fell by more than $1 in the previous session.

Economic signals from central bankers and stocks fell after Saudi Arabia suggested this week that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) may consider cutting production.

Both major crude oil contracts hit three-week highs after the Saudi energy minister signaled the possibility of output cuts.

OPEC sources later told Reuters: If Tehran secures a nuclear deal with world powers, the producer group and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+, would coincide with the return of Iranian oil to the market.

(Additional reporting by Shadia Nasrallah in London, Mohi Narayan in New Delhi and Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo)