There’s no end in sight to slumping oil prices – good news for consumers but a dire development for major oil producers like Saudi Arabia and Russia. And now, rising U.S. oil production and exports are contributing to the slump. Last week, oil prices reached new lows for 2017, with Brent crude dipping below $48 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate dipping belo w $46. The drop has been attributed to an unexpected increase in U.S. crude inventories, which rose by 3.3 million barrels last week (according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration), despite expectations that it would drop by 3.5 million barrels. The rise in production is compounded by rising U.S. oil exports, since the U.S. lifted a 40-year ban on these exports in 2015. This led to modest increases in oil exports in 2016 but substantial increases so far in 2017. This is a key reason prices […]