Oil prices rose for a third day on Thursday on worries about supply disruptions in Russia, while the market awaited clarity on Ukraine peace talks. However, an industry report showing a build in U.S. crude stockpiles limited the gains.

Brent futures were up 83 cents, or 1.09%, at $76.87 a barrel by 11:34 a.m. EST (1634 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 75 cents, or 1.04%, to $73.

Russia and the U.S. have had their first meeting since the start of the Ukraine war, aimed at restoring relations and preparing the ground for ending the conflict.

However, disruptions to oil supply kept prices elevated.

Russia attacked Ukrainian gas infrastructure and damaged gas production facilities overnight, Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko said.

Russia said Caspian Pipeline Consortium oil flows, a major route for crude exports from Kazakhstan, were reduced by 30%-40% on Tuesday after a Ukraine drone attack on a pumping station.

Potential restarts of oil flows from Iraq’s Kurdistan region were offsetting supply risks, analysts at ING said in a note.

Turkey, which hosts the port of Ceyhan that loads the Iraqi oil from the Kurdistan region, did not receive confirmation from Iraq on the resumption as of Thursday, the country’s energy minister told Reuters.

A resumption of the Iraqi oil flows would add 300,000 barrels of supply per day onto the market, ING analysts said.

Import tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration could dent oil prices by raising the cost of consumer goods, analysts said, weakening the global economy and reducing fuel demand. Concerns about European and Chinese demand were also helping keep prices in check.

“It is natural to be concerned about the global economic outlook as Donald Trump takes a sledgehammer smashing away at the existing global ‘free-trade structure’ with signals of 25% tariffs on car imports to the U.S.,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB.

U.S. crude stocks rose by 3.34 million barrels last week, market sources said, citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Wednesday.

Official oil inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is due at noon on Thursday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nicole Jao, Enes Tunagur and Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Varun H K, Subhranshu Sahu and David Evans)