Oil Market Recovers After its Prices’ Historic Collapse

  • Washington, D.C., USA
  • 21 April 2020
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The price of the American oil barrel has regained its breath, after a historic collapse in its prices during the past hours, as the price of a barrel of American oil for May delivery, on Tuesday morning, jumped to above zero.

As a result of the historic collapse in the price of oil, the US President, Donald Trump, announced that the United States is seeking to purchase 75 million barrels to fill the country's strategic oil reserves, after US oil futures contracts turned to the nearest maturity, to passivity, for the first time in history with storage of crude oil warehouses.

With the actual depletion of oil demand, a global glut has emerged in the supply, while billions of people around the world stayed at their homes to slow the spread of the Coronavirus.

US benchmarks for May delivery fell 55.90 (fifty-five nine-dollar intervals), or 306 percent, to -37 dollars a barrel. Brent crude futures fell more than nine percent, 9.2%, to 25.43, about twenty-five dollars a barrel.

It is noteworthy that the declines witnessed by US crude are a technical issue directly related to the end of trading in May delivery contracts on Tuesday, as evidence that US crude contracts for June are trading at $21, and therefore whoever buys oil as either refineries, or speculators, and those who sell what is in their hands.

Even as prices collapse, speculators are unable to hold on to their May delivery contracts, with large amounts of stocks piling up.

Source (Al-Arabiya.net website, Edited)

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