Under pressure from all directions (improving efficiency and alternatives (electrification); coronavirus economic collapse; and Saudi-Russian price war), the U.S. oil market collapsed (even further) today with WTI prices as low as $11.50 earlier this morning. While there are reasons for the particular collapse (oil futures timing … the clock is ticking on May futures) and while the gap between WTI / Brent Crude is (in percentage terms) the highest it has ever been (as water-accessible crude has higher value in this environment than land-locked crude), this is a stunning data point in the massively changed (and changing) energy market space.
Now, to be clear, some of this is market activity … people are in the last hours of bidding for May futures. There isn’t much confidence, it seems, in Trump’s ability to secure a deal to reduce global oil production and to open up the economy as can be seen in this futures market. The price had fallen to $11.50/barrel … if’s fallen to $8.50
And, well, last I checked, 1861 is before WWII …
PS: As a side note, when it comes to tar sands, Canadian producers need to pay people to take their products.