Price of Crude Oil Tumbles After Soaring for 3 Days

HOUSTON — After three days of spiking oil prices, a barrel of crude tumbled back nearly 8 percent on Tuesday, renewing despair in the oil patch. At the same time, ConocoPhillips announced it was cutting its global work force by 10 percent.

The two events were not directly linked, but they combined to reinforce the widespread notion around the oil fields and corporate headquarters in cities like Houston and Oklahoma City that the declining fortunes of the industry will not reverse anytime soon.

“Our industry is undergoing a dramatic downturn,” Daren Beaudo, a ConocoPhillips spokesman, said in an email statement. “As we have assessed the implications of lower prices on our business, we’ve made the difficult decision that work force reductions will be necessary.”