09:05 AM EDT, 05/16/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Oil prices edged higher early on Friday, recovering from two losing sessions that came on expectations rising supply will swell global inventories.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil for June delivery was last seen up US$0.19 to US$61.81 per barrel, while July Brent oil was up US$0.24 to US$64.77.

The rise comes even as U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said the United States is near a deal that will see Iran abandon its program to develop nuclear weapons in exchange for relief from sanctions that have throttled its oil exports.

"A top military and nuclear adviser and trustee of the Ayatollah, Ali Shamkhani, is reported across many media channels as saying Iran would be prepared to rid itself of highly enriched uranium, keeping only that which it needs for civilian use, allow inspectors to supervise and commit to never making a nuclear weapon in exchange for immediate, fully comprehensive sanction relief," PVM Oil Associates noted.

The return of Iranian exports would be another bearish note for oil. The price of the commodity has dropped 14% since the start of the year on a weakening global economy and rising supply from OPEC+, which plans to add a second tranche of 411,000 barrels per day of supply in June even as production outside the cartel is on the rise.

The International Energy Agency on Thursday said it expects global inventories to rise by an average of 720 kb/d this year and 930 kb/d next year after dropping in 2024, while cutting its demand-growth forecast for the last three quarters of 2025 to 0.65-million bpd from 0.99-million bpd in the first quarter.