Oil heads for weekly decline as US, Iran extend talks

By Florence Tan

SINGAPORE, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Oil prices climbed on Friday but stayed on track for a weekly decline after the United States and Iran extended nuclear talks, easing concerns about potential hostilities that could disrupt supply, while OPEC+ may resume an output hike at its Sunday meeting.

Brent crude futures rose 36 cents, or 0.51%, to $71.11 a barrel by 0600 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $65.59, up 38 cents, or 0.58%.

For the week, Brent was heading for a 1% decline, while WTI was set to fall around 1.3%, reversing some of the previous week's gains.

"Traders are in wait-and-see mode heading into the weekend with Iran tensions mounting on one hand, and the OPEC+ meeting on Sunday with a likely production hike on the other hand," said June Goh, a senior analyst at Sparta Commodities.

The United States and Iran held indirect talks in Geneva on Thursday over their long-running nuclear dispute to avert a conflict after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a military build-up in the region.

During the talks, oil prices gained more than a dollar a barrel after media reports indicated the discussions had stalled over U.S. insistence on zero enrichment of uranium by Iran, as well as a demand for the delivery of all 60% enriched uranium to the United States.

However, prices eased after the Omani mediator said the two sides had made progress in their talks.

They plan to resume negotiations with technical-level discussions scheduled next week in Vienna, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi said in a post on X after the meetings in Geneva.

"We think the latest round of talks offers some hope on chances of a peaceful resolution but military strikes are in no way out of the equation, given previous track record," DBS analyst Suvro Sarkar said.

Sparta's Goh said the tone from the talks indicated an unwillingness from both parties to concede, adding that the chance of a U.S. strike on Iran is growing but any military action would likely be limited.

Geopolitical risk premiums of $8 to $10 a barrel have built in oil prices on fears that a conflict will disrupt Middle East supply through the Strait of Hormuz, where about 20% of global oil supply passes, both analysts said.

To cushion the impact from a possible strike, Saudi Arabia is increasing its oil production and exports as part of a contingency plan, two sources familiar with the plan had told Reuters.

Also, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, a group known as OPEC+, is likely to consider raising its oil output by 137,000 barrels per day for April at the March 1 meeting, sources said, after suspending production hikes in the first quarter.

(Reporting by Florence Tan in Singapore and Nicole Jao in New York; Editing by Sonali Paul, Kim Coghill and Shri Navaratnam)