Oil prices settled below $30 a barrel on Friday for the first time in 12 years as turmoil in Chinese markets and the expected increase in Iranian crude exports added to concerns that a global glut will linger. Light, sweet crude for February delivery settled down $1.78, or 5.7%, at $29.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement since November 2003. Brent, the global benchmark, fell $1.94, or 6.3%, to $28.94 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, marking the lowest settlement level since February 2004. After more than a year of collapse, this week saw some of oil prices’ biggest losses since the financial crisis. A glut of oil hasn’t caused producers to slow down and traders are worried that demand won’t grow enough to soak it up. That has pushed oil into a bear market, with both U.S. and global prices down more than […]