Oil steady as market eyes Middle East tensions, higher US crude stockpiles

Brent crude futures dipped 3 cents to $90.10 a barrel at 0100 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures eased 3 cents at $85.36 a barrel.

But prices lacked clear direction on Thursday as investors considered a rise in U.S. crude inventories, indicative of weak drawdown and demand.climbed by 1.4 million barrels in the latest week to 421.1 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration, exceeding a 240,000-barrel gain expected by analysts from a Reuters poll.

Refinery crude runs in the U.S. fell by 207,000 barrels per day, while refinery utilisation rates also edged lower by 0.5 percentage point to 85.6% of total capacity, showed EIA data.

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