Gas is going for as low as $1.99 a gallon in. the NY Metro region…
$1.39 in some places in Texas…
Trump has a ‘deal’ for oil producers to slow pulling the stuff out of the ground…
But there are still super tankers with millions of tons of oil headed to America…
Monday’s collapse in the cost of a barrel is mostly owing to the mechanics of the futures market, which closes for May delivery on Tuesday. Speculators holding contracts for oil who couldn’t find last-minute buyers were a factor in driving the price down, so as not to be stuck with the oil themselves, analysts said. But refineries, the usual buyers, had no need for additional supplies.
Trading was very light Monday, in another sign that the crash is more symbolic, or psychological, rather than substantive.
The June futures price for WTI was hovering around $20 a barrel Monday, about where it has been in recent weeks. That is still down sharply from where it was before the coronavirus pandemic largely shuttered the world economy, and for most of the world’s oil producers, especially in the United States, that price would be painful.
The negative price of a barrel of oil recorded on Monday shouldn’t affect the cost of energy for business and consumers.
Analysts with S&P Global Platts, a commodities analysis firm, called the price movement a short-term anomaly, because of the closing window for May contracts.
Nonetheless, the very notion that a barrel of oil was worth less than zero was a shock to many….