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US Oil Price Plunges Well Below $0 as Storage Sites Near Capacity

US Oil Price Plunges Well Below $0 as Storage Sites Near Capacity
Pump jacks on the Bakken Shale Formation, near Williston, N.D., on Sept. 6, 2016. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
Petr Svab
Petr Svab
reporter
|Updated:

U.S. oil prices plunged to unprecedented negative numbers on April 20 as a lack of storage space and weak demand forced oil producers and traders into the bizarre situation of paying anybody willing to take the oil.

The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the leading U.S. oil price index, to be delivered in May dropped at one point to about negative $40 a barrel, before somewhat rebounding to negative $37.63.

Petr Svab
Petr Svab
reporter
Petr Svab is a reporter covering New York. Previously, he covered national topics including politics, economy, education, and law enforcement.
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