SINGAPORE: Oil prices rose in Asian trade on Tuesday as concerns over Iran came to the fore on the eve of talks between Tehran and Western countries on its nuclear ambitions, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, advanced 14 cents to $92.71 a barrel on its last trading day, and Brent North Sea crude for July gained seven cents to $108.88.
Traders were buying crude ahead of Iran's meeting with diplomats of the so-called P5+1 in Baghdad where sanctions against Tehran will likely be discussed, said Nick Trevethan, senior commodities strategist for ANZ Research in Singapore.
"Iran is front and centre in the market right now," Trevethan told AFP.
The P5+1 group comprises the five permanent UN Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany.
The meeting is the second between Iran and the group, with the first held on April 14 in Istanbul after a 15-month impasse.
Iran faces a raft of sanctions from the United Nations, the United States and the European Union over suspicions that its nuclear programme masks a push to develop atomic weapons.
However, Tehran insists that the programme is for peaceful uses, and has pressed Western nations to lift the sanctions.
Several major customers of Iranian crude including India, Japan and Turkey have said they would reduce imports on Iranian oil, while a European Union crude embargo on Tehran is due to be fully implemented from July 1.
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