Oil prices dropped Thursday as talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran entered their final stages, but ongoing tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine have limited losses.

Brent crude fell $1.26, or 1.3%, to $93.55 a barrel by 09:14 GMT, as US West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.34, or 1.4%, to $92.32 a barrel. Both benchmarks fell more than two percent earlier.

US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said his country is in the final stages of indirect talks with Iran aimed at "salvaging" the 2015 nuclear agreement, which th US unilaterally and abruptly withdrew from.

For his part, the French Foreign Minister, Jeans-Yves Le Drian, described a deal as being "within grasp", but claimed that "we need political decisions from the Iranians."

As a new deal began to loom, South Korea confirmed that it held talks on resuming imports of Iranian crude and unfreezing Iranian assets, as it was previously one of the biggest buyers of Iranian crude in Asia.

On Wednesday, South Korea and Iran discussed ways to resolve the dispute over Tehran's frozen assets in Seoul under US sanctions and touched on the possibility of resuming oil trade between the two countries.

Iran's chief negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, considered that Seoul's refusal to pay its debts to Tehran is illegal and unjustified.