Oil prices moved higher for a third consecutive session on Wednesday, although they reduced earlier gains as investors monitored renewed military exchanges between the U.S. and Iran and their potential implications for Middle Eastern crude supplies.
As of 08:46 GMT, November Brent crude futures were up 0.2% at $94.87 a barrel, while WTI crude futures gained 0.1% to $90.31 a barrel, according to Investing.com data.
Brent had earlier reached $97.04 a barrel. Both benchmarks gained nearly 5% in the previous session and reached their highest levels in approximately five weeks.
The U.S. carried out another series of airstrikes against Iranian targets overnight, followed by retaliatory missile and drone attacks by Iran against U.S. forces in Jordan and Bahrain.
The developments have increased market attention on tanker movements through the Strait of Hormuz and the potential for further disruption to regional crude supplies.
Two supertankers carrying Saudi crude were struck by unidentified projectiles while travelling through the strait on Monday. Each vessel had loaded approximately 2 million barrels at Saudi Arabia's Juaymah terminal.
U.S. crude inventories declined by 2.6 million barrels during the week ended 28 August, according to American Petroleum Institute data released on Tuesday.
