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Brent crude traded down $1.26, or 1.3%, at $93.55 a barrel by
0914 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down
$1.34, or 1.4%, at $92.32.
Both contracts fell more than 2% earlier in the session.
"(The) oil market is locked in a tug of war between Iranian
sanctions relief and Russian-Ukraine tensions," said Stephen
Brennock at brokerage PVM Oil.
The United States is in "the midst of the very final stages" of
indirect talks with Iran, aimed at salvaging a 2015 deal
limiting Tehran's nuclear activities, State Department
spokesperson Ned Price said on Wednesday.
A decision on salvaging the nuclear deal was said by France to
be only days away on Wednesday and that it was up to Tehran to
make the political choice, though Tehran called on Western
powers to be "realistic".
With a new deal possibly on the horizon, South Korea said on
Wednesday that it had held talks on resuming imports of Iranian
crude oil and unfreezing Iranian funds. South Korea was
previously one of Tehran's leading oil buyers in Asia.
However, conitnuing tensions over a possible Russian invasion of
Ukraine continues to support oil markets because of the
potential disruption to energy supplies.
Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine said that Kyiv
government forces used mortars to attack their territory on
Thursday, in violation of agreements aimed at avoiding conflict,
Russian state news agency RIA said.
Russia's announcement of a partial pullback of troops from near
Ukraine this week was countered by Western governments warning
that Russia was building up military presence near the Ukraine
border.
(Additional reporting by Chen Aizhu in SingaporeEditing by David
Goodman)
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