Once a minority view, oil below $30 a barrel is increasingly being touted as the new home for a crude price being battered by troubles in China. Concerns over the Chinese economy , which is the world’s second-largest crude consumer, are combining with the continued fear of oversupply to potentially push the price of oil to below $30, a level that U.S. crude last hit in late 2003. On Thursday, West Texas Intermediate , the U.S. benchmark, hit a low of $32.10 a barrel, while Brent, the global gauge, slid to $32.16 a barrel, its lowest since April 2004. Both benchmarks recovered later in the session but were still down around 7% for the week. A fall below the landmark $30 level would send ripples from Riyadh to Houston as the embattled oil industry struggles to cope with a historic price rout. At the same time, consumers and business […]