Oil prices slid hard at the end of Thursday’s session as a bigger-than-expected increase in U.S. oil stockpiles, falling product prices and strong production number out of Russia kept gains in check. December crude oil settled down $1.12, or 2.4%, to $45.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent, the global benchmark, lost 60 cents, or 1.2%, to $47.98 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. “It’s just people bailing on the last remnants of the (bullish bets) from last week,” said Bob Yawger, director of the futures division at Mizuho Securities USA Inc. The declines extend a slide from Wednesday, when prices fell more than 3% following data out of the U.S. showing another gain in oil inventories. It brings prices back down to where they were on Oct. 28, when U.S. crude was in the early part of a run that saw gains in four of […]