Oil prices were nearly unchanged in early Asian trading on Thursday after rising the previous day, as investors assessed stalled US-Iran peace talks and signs that Middle Eastern crude exports were recovering. Brent crude futures rose 12 cents, or 0.1%, to $98.15 a barrel by 0045 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $90.35. Both benchmarks had gained about $1 a barrel on Wednesday. Brent advanced around 14% in September, its strongest monthly gain since July, while WTI rose about 5%. Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities, said supply concerns supported buying but recovering exports created selling pressure. He said WTI would need a new catalyst, such as progress in peace negotiations, to break below immediate support at $88 a barrel. Qatar said Tuesday it hoped shuttle diplomacy between Tehran and Washington could produce a breakthrough, but US President Donald Trump denied reports that he was willing to grant Iran sanctions relief and release frozen Iranian funds in exchange for concrete nuclear-related steps. Saudi Arabia resumed tanker loadings from its Red Sea port of Yanbu after restarting its East-West Pipeline. Goldman Sachs estimated Gulf oil exports, including dark exports involving ships with location transponders turned off, had recovered to 23.3 million barrels per day over the previous week, matching their 2025 average after exports doubled in September. OPEC+ producers are likely to leave November output targets unchanged at their Sunday meeting, Reuters reported. Separately, U.S. crude inventories rose by 922,000 barrels to 427.3 million barrels in the week ended September 25, against expectations for a 264,000-barrel draw, while fuel inventories fell sharply amid strong seasonal and global demand.