Crude futures prices dropped sharply late Tuesday after federal data projected only modest US production cuts in 2020 and impatience grew over an apparent lack of progress in a broader OPEC+ deal to scale back volumes. Although NYMEX WTI hovered relatively flat most of the day, prices dropped nearly 10% after the US Energy Information Administration’s new Short-Term Energy Outlook estimated that average US crude output this year will only fall 500,000 b/d compared to 2019 because of collapsing global demand from the coronavirus pandemic. Traders also were looking for stronger signals that negotiations were getting closer to being finalized on a bigger OPEC+ agreement prior to the group’s […]