By Sethuraman N R and Yuka Obayashi
NEW DELHI/TOKYO, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Oil prices held firm on Thursday as recovering Gulf crude exports and a surprise rise in US inventories eased supply concerns, while investors assessed renewed US-Iran diplomatic efforts to end the Middle East conflict.
Brent crude futures were up 0.6 % to $98.67 a barrel by 0704 GMT, and US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.5% to $90.09 a barrel.
Prices remained volatile in the session, with both the benchmarks dropping over
1%, but recovered losses.
Brent recorded a monthly gain of around 14% in September, its biggest since July, while WTI increased by about 5% on the month.
"Oil's near-term bias remains negative as recovering shipments from the Gulf region, resumed Saudi exports through Yanbu and a buildup in US inventories ease supply concerns," said Sugandha Sachdeva, founder of SS WealthStreet, a New Delhi-based research firm.
Saudi Arabia resumed oil tanker loadings from Yanbu, Reuters reported on Tuesday, after earlier restarting operations on its East-West Pipeline.
Meanwhile, US crude inventories rose by 922,000 barrels to 427.3 million barrels in the week ended September 25, the Energy Information Administration said, compared with expectations in a Reuters poll for a 264,000-barrel draw. [EIA/S]
"Renewed US-Iran diplomatic engagement could further reduce the geopolitical risk premium, although a breakthrough remains uncertain," Sachdeva said.
Iran said on Wednesday it had received a US response to its latest proposal to resurrect the collapsed ceasefire in the Gulf.
US President Donald Trump denied reports by Axios and CNN, however, that cited US officials as saying he was willing to give Iran sanctions relief and release frozen Iranian funds in return for "concrete" steps by Tehran on its nuclear programme.
Goldman Sachs estimates Gulf oil exports, including "dark exports" involving ships operating with their location transponders turned off, have recovered to 23.3 million barrels per day over the last week, in line with their 2025 average, as exports doubled in September, it said in a note on Tuesday.
Also, OPEC+ oil-producing countries are likely to keep their oil production targets steady for November when they meet on Sunday, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
(Reporting by Sethuraman N R in New Delhi and Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Tom Hogue)
