Crude oil futures gained on Thursday after touching their lowest level since October in earlier sessions. The positive US macroeconomic data and rising equities supported the oil. US jobless claims reduced for the week while increase in durable orders was also reported by US Commerce Department.

Moreover, negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program failed and ended without any firm agreement on Thursday which raised oil supply concerns eventually increasing the crude oil demand and benefiting the prices. The next meeting is scheduled in June until then it is expected that oil supplies will be disrupted.

The International Energy Agency also disclosed that oil markets are short of 300,000 barrels of Iranian oil per day and if sanctions are imposed on Iran then deficiency of almost 1 million barrels per day could be seen.

Crude oil futures contract for July delivery gained 0.9 percent or $0.76 to settle at $90.66 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude oil saw some pressure on Thursday as the US dollar remained strong. The dollar index DXY which tracks the greenback’s movement versus its six major rivals gained to 92.329 on Thursday as compared to 82.174 on Wednesday’s late trading hours.

Among other energy commodities, gasoline futures contract for June delivery slightly gained 0.2 percent to $2.88 per gallon while heating oil futures for the same month delivery advanced 0.4 percent or $0.01 to $2.82 per gallon.

Natural gas futures contract for June delivery fell 3.3 percent or $0.09 to settle at $2.65 per million British thermal units. EIA also released its report on natural gas supplies according to which natural gas inventories gained 77 billion cubic feet for the week while analysts expected the increase of 75 to 79 billion cubic feet.