Crude Slides Into Bear Market as Oversupply Distress Deepens
- Futures have fallen more than 20% from year’s highest close
- Libya restarts wells, adding to supplies from U.S. shale plays
This article is for subscribers only.
Oil entered the first bear market since August as concerns worsen that OPEC is failing to ease a global supply glut.
West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, fell more than 20 percent from its highest close this year, meeting the common definition of a bear market. Futures settled at $43.23 a barrel in New York, down from $54.45 on Feb. 23.