The status of Iranian nuclear talks again influenced oil prices, though indices gained ground with no clear signs of a breakthrough agreement.

Crude oil prices suffered two straight days of losses this week amid signs an agreement would be reached during multilateral nuclear negotiations in Switzerland. Mixed signals from the negotiating table Wednesday reversed some of the declines from earlier trading sessions.

A self-imposed Tuesday deadline expired with no concrete agreement. Talks continued into another day Wednesday in Switzerland.

Brent crude oil for May delivery as up only marginally from the previous day to gain about 25 cents to $55.40 per barrel. The price early Wednesday was still about 1.7 percent less than at the start of the week.

Crude oil has traded in a bear market since prices in June started drifting below the $100 per barrel mark on increased supply from the United States and tepid demand in a weak global economy.

Iranian crude oil exports are limited according to the terms of a November 2013 agreement that offered modest relief from economic sanctions in exchange for commitments from Iran to curb nuclear research activity.

Sanctions relief could mean more Iranian crude oil on the market. Iran in 2011 exported around 2.5 million barrels per day. Last year, exports averaged 1.4 million bpd. A country profile from the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Iran's ability to export crude oil is "substantially impeded" by economic sanctions.

Crude oil prices were supported in part by data from the British Office for National Statistics that show the nation's economy grew by 0.6 percent during the last three months of 2014. The rate increase means the British economy grew at its fastest pace since 2006.

The price for West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. oil benchmark, was up about 17 cents in early Wednesday trading to $47.77. That's still nearly a full percent below the price at the start of the week.