Oil Prices Soar As U.S. Oil Production Plunges 30%

West Texas Intermediate jumped over $60 per barrel after the Polar Vortex that brought unusually cold weather to a large part of the U.S. froze—literally—a third of oil production. Citing unnamed sources from the industry familiar with the details, Bloomberg reported that U.S. oil production is now 3.5 million bpd lower than it was before the cold snap hit. In the Permian down by as much as 65 percent. According to the report, temperatures in Texas were so low at the start of this week that oil and gas liquids were freezing at the wellhead…