Oil consolidates gains amid concerns of worsening Middle East crisis [Video]

Oil prices held steady in early Asian trading on Thursday after gaining a dollar a barrel in the prior session as investors braced for a worsening of the Middle East crisis, potentially involving Iran, the third-largest oil producer in OPEC.

Brent crude futures advanced by 4 cents to $90.52 a barrel by 0047 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 2 cents at $86.24 a barrel.

Both contracts rose more than 1% in the prior session after three sons of a Hamas leader were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, feeding worries that ceasefire talks between the two sides might stall. Earlier this week, Israel and Hamas began a fresh round of ceasefire talks in their more than six-month-old Gaza war but those talks have yielded no agreement.

Furthermore, the region is on alert for possible Iranian retaliation over a suspected Israeli air strike on Iran’s embassy in Syria at the start of the month. A Bloomberg report on Wednesday said the U.S. …