U.S. oil prices are lagging behind global oil prices climbing toward $80 a barrel, the latest sign of a market that has gone from glutted to exceptionally tight in the past year. U.S. oil futures are trailing Brent, the global benchmark, by nearly $7 a barrel, settling at $72.24 a barrel on Monday. Last week the difference was even wider, approaching $8 a barrel. The two benchmarks haven’t been that far apart since 2015, before U.S. crude could be freely exported. The divergence is a sign of how stretched global oil supplies have become even as U.S. output has marched higher, overtaking Saudi Arabia and rivaling Russia. That has contributed to soaring U.S. exports, which have hit a record of nearly 2.6 million barrels a day as users clamor. “The market is screaming right now, ‘We need every barrel we can get,’ ” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at […]