Oil prices steadied on Wednesday, recovering early losses to register moderate gains after the previous session's 4% advance as markets weighed up the chance of supply disruptions from the Iran-Israel conflict and potential direct U.

Shipowner Frontline said the incident near the Strait of Hormuz was due to navigational issues and not related to the current Israel-Iran conflict.

The initial round of Israeli attacks sent oil prices 7 percent higher on Friday. Still, at about $74 a barrel, Brent crude remains below the $80 average for 2024, the Deutsche Bank analysts wrote. The market continued to waver, though, and by Monday, oil prices had fallen about 3 percent.