Crude oil futures are sliding to close out the trading week, driven by rising US-China tensions, a stronger US dollar, and markets struggling to absorb OPEC’s relaxing of output cuts. But crude prices did find support in a sharp decline in the total rig count, suggesting that oil and gas companies are dramatically restarting operations. September crude oil futures tumbled $0.79, or 1.88%, to $41.16 per barrel at 18:04 GMT on Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. US crude will post a 1.8% weekly gain, paring its year-to-date loss to just over 32%. Brent, the international benchmark for oil prices, is also ... (full story)