LONDON - Oil futures steadied on Friday ‌but were on track for their steepest weekly decline since early April after reports that the U.S. ​and Iran had reached agreement on a potential ceasefire extension.

Brent crude futures for July were down 34 cents, ​or 0.3%, at $94.05 ​a barrel by 0810 GMT. U.S. oil futures were steady at $88.89. Both had fallen more than 1% earlier in the session.

Brent has plunged by about 9% this ⁠week for its steepest weekly decline since the week to April 6. WTI, meanwhile, has dropped by nearly 8% for its biggest weekly loss since the week to April 13.

"While oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz remain restricted and oil inventories keep falling, the market ​focus remains on the ‌possibility of a ⁠deal between the ⁠U.S. and Iran," said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo. The U.S. and Iran reached an agreement on Thursday to ​extend a ceasefire and lift restrictions on shipping through the Strait of ‌Hormuz, sources told Reuters, though U.S. President Donald Trump ⁠has yet to approve it and Iranian state media said it had not been finalised. Prices have been volatile in recent sessions, swinging by as much as $6 for both benchmarks on conflicting signals over a possible end to the Iran war and potential reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which was previously a conduit for a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies. Traffic through the maritime chokepoint remains a small fraction of levels before the conflict. Analysts at ING said a reopening of the waterway would offer ‌some immediate relief to the oil market, but a recovery is ⁠still uncertain.

Japan, which relies heavily on oil from the Middle ​East, last month registered a 66% drop in crude oil imports compared with April last year.

U.S. crude, gasoline and distillate stockpiles fell last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday, as demand from ​refiners and ‌consumers rose and exports fell by 1.16 million bpd to 4.4 million ⁠bpd.

(Reporting by Seher Dareen in London Additional ​reporting by Helen Clark and Sudarshan Varadhan in Singapore Editing by David Goodman)