Tokyo — Oil prices edged lower on Friday, but brent largely held its gains from the previous session amid concerns that Iran may face renewed sanctions, choking off supply. Global benchmark brent crude futures were down 27c, or 0.4%, at $74.47 a barrel by 06.44am GMT, after rising 1% on Thursday US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 19c, or 0.3%, to $68 a barrel. The contract gained 0.2% the previous session. Brent is heading for a third week of gains, up by 0.5%, while WTI is set to drop 0.4% for the week. "There’s a little bit of profit-taking today," said Virendra Chauhan, oil analyst at Energy Aspects in Singapore. "The broader narrative, particularly the strength in brent, is that people are really concerned about going short oil when sanctions are potentially going to be re-imposed and the market is trying to assess what that means for Iranian exports," Chauhan said. US President Donald Trump will decide by May 12 whether to re-impose sanctions on Iran that were lifted a...
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