Oil slips further below $80 a barrel as focus on OPEC intensifies

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Prices are being affected by “a bullish oil-inventory report” from the U.S., said Michael Poulsen, an analyst at Global Risk Management Ltd. U.S. storage dropped by 4.62 million barrels to 425.3 million barrels last week, while outbound shipments of crude expanded to a record, according to an Energy Information Administration report Wednesday. The EIA data also showed that American oil production rose to an unprecedented 10.5 million barrels a day, topping the 10 million-barrel level for a ninth week. Global markets from equities to oil recovered after investor optimism grew that the U.S. and China will step back from the brink of a trade war. Click Read More below for additional information.

Authorities say nobody has been hurt after a contractor accidentally cut an underground crude oil pipeline in Central Texas and caused about 50,000 gallons (189,265 liters) to spill. A spokesman with Magellan Midstream Partners of Tulsa, Oklahoma, says cleanup has begun at the rural site near Bastrop, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Austin. Emergency responders ordered a 1-mile (1.6-kilometer) area evacuated around the spill location, as a precaution. Nearby Farm-to-Market 20 was closed in both directions. Click Read More below for more of the story.