Oil prices fall after U.S. says damaged Saudi pipeline will restart operations in days

Crude oil prices dropped Wednesday as the Trump administration tried to reassure the market that Saudi Arabia's damaged East-West pipeline will restart operations in days. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures shed 3.2% to close at $102.43 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, lost 2.7% to settle at $105.83 per barrel. Prices have rallied more than 16% this month as fighting has sharply escalated in the Persian Gulf. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC on Tuesday that the pipeline outage is a "brief and temporary interruption" that "will be measured in days." But independent analysts warned the pipeline could...