https://www.star-telegram.com/news/c...242148631.html
Oil prices plunge so far that a barrel is now worth less than nothing
Oil prices plunged below zero for the first time ever on Monday due to decreased demand during the coronavirus pandemic, media outlets reported.
U.S. crude oil prices dropped to negative $3.70 per barrel as of 2:15 pm. Eastern time, according to The Associated Press.
The drop in demand during COVID-19 shutdowns have forced oil producers to “pay buyers to take the glut of crude which they cannot store, as rising stockpiles of crude threaten to overwhelm oil storage facilities,” The Guardian reported.
Goldman Sachs warned that storage facilities, terminals, refineries, ships and pipelines would run out of room to store oil, according to CNN.
“The market is starting to signal that not only is there no demand for this crude, eventually there could be nowhere for it to go,” Jeff Wyll, senior energy analyst at Neuberger Berman, told CNN.
Oil prices had already begun to drop at the beginning of the year due to the coronavirus crisis, according to The Los Angeles Times.
“Refiners are rejecting barrels at a historic pace, and with U.S. storage levels sprinting to the brim, market forces will inflict further pain until either we hit rock bottom or COVID clears, whichever comes first, but it looks like the former,” Michael Tran, managing director of global energy strategy at RBC Capital Markets, told the Los Angeles Times.
Of course the value will come back but how long and what damage will be done?