New york: Oil prices rose slightly on Friday after the United States threatened to maintain its naval blockade of Iran indefinitely, renewing concerns about crude oil supplies. This followed a decline in the previous session due to expectations of weak global demand.

According to Iraqi News Agency, Brent crude futures rose nine cents, or 0.1%, to $87.16 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained four cents to $81.29 a barrel.

Both contracts fell by more than 2% in the previous session, giving up some of the gains they had made after six sessions of gains for Brent crude and five sessions for West Texas Intermediate crude, but they are still on track for weekly gains of about 4%.