Oil slumps 2.5% on oversupply fears, US-China trade talk concerns

Oil fell more than $1 a barrel on Tuesday on concerns about excess global crude supply and limited progress toward resolving the US-China trade dispute that has clouded the outlook for oil demand.

Brent crude futures fell $1.53, or 2.5 per cent, to settle at $60.91 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures lost $1.84, or 3.2 per cent, to settle at $55.21 a barrel.

Brent has rallied about 15 per cent this year, supported by a pact by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia – a group known as OPEC+ – to cut combined oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day from Jan. 1.