Oil resumes slide on worries Middle East rift could sap drive to cut output
Oil prices on Tuesday resumed their slide from the previous session, hit by concerns that a political rift between Qatar and several Arab states would undermine an OPEC-led push to tighten the market. Persistent gains in U.S. production also dragged on benchmark crude prices, traders said. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were trading at $49.15 per barrel at 0119 GMT, down 32 cents, or 0.65 percent from their last close. That was more than 8 percent below May 25, when an OPEC-led policy to cut oil output was extended into the first quarter of 2018. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 had dropped 32 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $47.08 per barrel. That was down over 7.5 percent from May 25.
