Singapore —Oil prices dipped on Thursday as record US crude output heightened concerns of a return of global oversupply, stoking talk from within Opec that production curbs may become necessary once again to prevent a glut. Front-month Brent crude oil futures were at $71.93 a barrel at 3.01am GMT, down 14c from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $61.68 a barrel, virtually flat from their last settlement. Benjamin Lu of brokerage Phillip Futures in Singapore said that overall, “oil prices continue to demonstrate bearish influences amidst market concerns of rising global inventories [and as] increasing output levels threaten to upset supply fundamentals in the fourth quarter of 2018”. A group of producers around the Middle East-dominated Opec as well as Russia decided last June to relax output curbs in place since 2017, after pressure from US President Donald Trump to reduce oil prices and make up for supply losses from Iran. But with Iran sanctio...
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