Subscribe to our social channels to get the latest news about Hungary!
What does a negative oil price mean?
Change language:
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for May delivery fell to -37.63 U.S. dollars a barrel on Monday, the first negative price in history since the New York Mercantile Exchange began trading oil futures in 1983.
WTI crude is the U.S. benchmark used for oil pricing. The following explains the notion of a negative oil price, how it occurs and how it will affect people and the industry.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN
A negative oil price means that people who have oil to sell are willing to pay for it being taken off their hands over fears that storage capacity could run out in May.
HOW DOES IT HAPPEN
The low prices for WTI oil come as demand for oil has fallen 30 percent as a result of the novel coronavirus outbreak, which has caused great decline in airline, car, shipping, and trucking traffic as well as manufacturing production.
Oil supply, on the other hand, has not fallen as fast. Oil producing countries agreed earlier this month to collectively slash global output by an unprecedented 10 million barrels a day, or about 10 percent.
But demand has dropped by 30 million barrels a day or more, meaning there is far more oil than the world needs.