Why the oil markets are yawning as Middle East powers rattle sabres

London

AT almost any other time, an escalating diplomatic conflict between Opec members Iran and Saudi Arabia would mean a spike in oil prices.

That the rally this time couldn't be sustained shows just how abnormal things are in the oil market. Brent crude has fallen 0.5 per cent this week as a supply glut and the slowest Chinese growth in a generation trumped mounting strife between the nations on either side of the world's busiest waterway for oil tankers.