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Oil prices climb amidst unpredictability over Iran president's fate

Oil costs rose in early Asian trading on Monday, adding to recently's gains as rescuers looked for Iran's president after a helicopter crash in the oilproducing nation and after the U.S. bought crude to assist refill the nationwide stockpile.

Brent rose 26 cents, or 0.3% to $84.24 a barrel by 0049 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) got 15 cents, or 0.2% to $80.21 a barrel.

Brent had ended the previous week up about 1%, its first weekly gain in 3 weeks, while WTI rose 2% on improved economic indications from the U.S. and China, the world's largest oil customers.

A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi crashed on Sunday, an Iranian official told . The lives of President Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were at risk, the authorities said.

In spite of the volatility in the area, oil prices moved just slightly.

The oil market remains largely rangebound and without any fresh catalyst we will likely have to wait on clarity around OPEC+ output policy in order to break out of this range, stated Warren Patterson, head of commodities technique at ING.

The Company of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, together called OPEC+, are set up to satisfy on June 1.

The market also appears increasingly numb to developments on the geopolitical front, likely due to the large quantity of extra capacity OPEC is resting on, Patterson said.

The U.S. federal government took advantage of the current drop in oil prices, saying late recently it had actually bought 3.3 million barrels of oil at $79.38 a barrel to help refill its Strategic Petroleum Reserve after a massive sale from the stockpile in 2022.

Supporting the market recently, indications of reducing inflation in the U.S. increased expectations of interest rate cuts, which could decrease the worth of the dollar and make oil more affordable for holders of other currencies.

(source: Reuters)