Oil prices slid early on Tuesday, as reports of the U.S. asking OPEC to lift oil production and hedge funds boosting their short positions added to bearish sentiment. Rising geopolitical concerns over Iran vowing to enrich uranium amid EU attempts to salvage the nuclear deal as well as heightened tensions in the Iranian-Israeli feud helped to boost prices in the afternoon. At 09:16 a.m. EDT today, WTI Crude was down 0.05 percent at $64.72, while Brent Crude traded down 1.05 percent at $74.50. Brent prices touched their lowest in nearly a month, since May 8, the day on which the U.S. withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. Earlier on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that the United States had quietly asked Saudi Arabia and several other OPEC nations to raise oil production by some 1 million bpd. While the U.S. government has often expressed opinion against OPEC’s oil price-fixing policies, including […]