Singapore — Oil prices dropped more than 1% on Friday as a bounce-back in US production outweighed ongoing declines in crude inventories. If Friday’s falls last, oil will post its biggest weekly price declines since October. Brent crude futures were at $68.46 at 2.59am GMT, down 85c or 1.2% from their last close. On Monday, they hit their highest since December 2014 at $70.37 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $63.02 a barrel, down 93c or 1.5% from their last settlement. WTI marked a December 2014 peak of $64.89 a barrel on Tuesday. Traders said the lower prices were prompted by a recovery in US oil production after a recent drop, as well as by an expected fall in demand when winter ends in the northern hemisphere. US crude oil production stood at 9.75-million barrels a day on January 12, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed. Output had fallen to 9.49-million barrels at the start of the year, due largely to a cold snap that shut ...
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