Singapore — Oil prices on Wednesday slipped away from two-and-a-half year highs hit the previous session as the gradual resumption of flows through a major North Sea pipeline made up for supply disruption in Libya. But the two outages in quick succession have highlighted how much tighter global oil markets have become a year into supply cuts led by Opec and Russia. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $59.73 a barrel at 4.21am GMT, down 24c from their last settlement. WTI broke through $60 a barrel for the first time since June 2015 in the previous session. Brent crude futures were at $66.71 a barrel, down 31c after breaking through $67 for the first time since May 2015 the previous day. "Crude spiked sharply in reaction to an explosion at a Libyan pipeline... (but) the price spike came with light volumes as London was closed for Boxing Day," said Sukrit Vijayakar, director of energy consultancy Trifecta. Libya lost about 90,000 barrels a day of crude oil supplies from a...
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