Oil Price Crashes -$56; First Time in History Sellers Pay Buyers

| |

Frankly, we’re speechless. Yesterday the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil for near-term May contracts went from trading at $18.27 per barrel (bbl) to minus $37.63, a drop of $55.90 in a single day. This is the first time in history sellers of oil in the U.S. (more properly the contracts to buy oil) are paying buyers to accept it–because the sellers have no place to store physical oil should they keep the contracts. This is a complete and utter meltdown in the oil market. Trading for May contracts ends today, thank God. The June contract is (so far) showing deals trading at $15.59/bbl. That’s still a disaster, but not as bad as paying someone else to take the oil! What caused this price crash, and where does it go from here?

Please Login to view this content. (Not a member? Join Today!)
You do not have permission to view the comments.