Oil prices inched down and were headed for a second weekly decline as a continued US blockade of Iran eased fears of renewed fighting in the Middle East, though shipping attacks remained a supply risk, Reuters reports.

Brent futures fell 28 cents, or 0.29 per cent, to $95.54 a barrel at 0527 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures declined by 56 cents, or 0.63pc, to $88.18 a barrel.

Friday’s declines reversed two days of gains amid a volatile trading week, with earlier hopes for a rapprochement in the US-Israel war against Iran, now in its ninth month, offset by strikes on Saudi Arabian infrastructure by Yemens Iran-backed Houthis and attacks on tankers shipping crude out of the Gulf.