Oil rises on Iran war stalemate; near-term potential for further gains seen limited

Aug 17 : Oil prices rose on Monday on a lack of progress in diplomatic efforts to resolve the Middle East conflict, though the absence of major supply outages limited gains.Brent crude futures were up 92 cents, or 1.04 per cent, at $89.44 by 1002 GMT after hitting a session high of $89.68. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 55 cents or 0.67 per cent to $82.95 a barrel.Both contracts gained more than 5 per cent last week following attacks on tankers operated by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the Hormuz strait and on a Saudi Aramco refinery.But Bjarne Schieldrop at SEB Research said that prices were unlikely to move substantively higher unless there was a halt in the current flow of crude out through the Strait of Hormuz at night and/or a closure of the Bab el-Mandeb Stra