Oil prices slid on Friday, with U.S. crude down more than 3 percent on worries that commerce and energy demand in Florida and the Southeast would be hit hard as Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful storms in a century, drove toward the region. Irma, the second major hurricane to approach the United States in two weeks, has already killed 14 and destroyed islands in the Caribbean. Its predecessor, Harvey, shut a quarter of U.S. refineries and 8 percent of U.S. oil production, with crude prices slumping as widespread refinery outages sharply reduced demand for crude. It will take weeks for the U.S. petroleum industry to return to full capacity, analysts said. In the case of Irma, analysts are more worried that devastation wrought by the storm could sharply […]