08:40 AM EST, 02/11/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Oil prices rose early Wednesday as traders hiked its risk premium as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to Washington to pressure President Donald Trump to take a hard line in talks with Iran, even as a report showed a large rise in U.S. inventories last week.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil for March delivery was last seen up US$1.45 to US$65.41 per barrel, a two-week high, while April Brent oil was up US$1.50 to US$70.43.

The rise comes as Netanyahu travels to Washington to press Trump to include Israel's demands that Iran end its nuclear program, cut its ballistic-missile production and end its support for regional militias like Hezbollah and Hamas, the BBC reported, while Iran said it is willing to discuss its nuclear program in talks with the United States but rejected wider talks.

The talks come as the United States keeps a carrier strike group offshore Iran while Trump on Tuesday said in an interview he was considering sending a second carrier group to the region, though he told Axios a diplomatic solution with the OPEC+ member remains possible, while the Wall Street Journal reported U.S. Administration officials are discussing seizing tankers shipping Iranian oil.

"Oil trades firmer, with Brent back above USD 69 as Middle East tensions sustain a modest risk premium. The US signaled it is considering seizing tankers carrying Iranian oil, while President Trump threatened to deploy another aircraft carrier should nuclear talks with Iran fail," Saxo Bank noted.

The threats of violence in the Persian Gulf. a region that supplies about a fifth of the world's daily oil consumption, comes even as signs supply remains well ahead of demand. In its weekly survey, the American Petroleum Institute said U.S. oil inventories rose by 13.4-million barrels last week.

The Energy Information Administration will release official inventory data later on Wednesday morning. However in its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook released Tuesday, the agency again warned global inventories will rise this year and next on high output from OPEC+ and producers in the Americas.

"Despite near-term tightness from disruptions, we assess that strong global oil production growth will continue to outpace oil consumption over our forecast, driving our assessment that global oil inventories will increase. We expect this trend to continue in both 2026 and 2027. We forecast that global oil inventory builds will average 3.1 million b/d in 2026, compared with an average build of 2.7 million b/d in 2025, before decreasing to average of 2.7 million b/d in 2027," the agency said.