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A derek pumps in an oil field in Kuwait near the Saudi Arabian border.

Oil prices ticked higher in early trade on Thursday as investors weighed the escalating conflict in the Middle East and the potential for disruption to crude flows, against an amply-supplied global market.

Brent crude futures increased 64 cents, or 0.87%, to $74.54 a barrel as of 0006 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 72 cents, or 1.03%, to $70.82 a barrel.

An Israeli strike on central Beirut's Bachoura neighborhood early on Thursday left two killed and 11 wounded, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement.

Iran was drawn into the conflict on Tuesday after it fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in an escalation of hostilities, which have seeped out of Israel and Palestine into Lebanon and further east.

But an unexpected build in U.S. crude inventories on Wednesday helped ease some supply concerns and curbed oil price gains.

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