Oil prices extended their recent slide on Friday, as a deluge of oil and refined products in the market weighed heavily, keeping prices near three-month lows. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell 1.2% to $42.71 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate futures were trading down 1% at $40.74 a barrel. A combination of an expanding global gasoline glut , early signs of increasing production in the U.S., and rising output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have dragged down oil prices by around 20% since they broke above $50 in June. “The unexpectedly weak performance raises the important question of whether this is a short-lived blip or has the fragile recovery in oil prices been derailed,” said brokerage PVM in a […]