Oil price goes negative, trading below $0

The price of oil dropped to the lowest levels in American history Monday, when May contracts on the New York mercantile exchange fell into negative territory.
At 2:39 p.m. Central Daylight Time Monday, May futures contracts for West Texas intermediate crude were going for minus-$38.08 per barrel on the NYMEX, meaning you’d have to pay a prospective buyer to take delivery. That’s if the buyer can find a place to store the oil. Storage for oil has been in short supply.
The price was down more than $58 in the day’s trading, a drop of more than 300%.
Brent crude, the European benchmark, was relatively stable at $28 per barrel. Natural gas was actually up 20 cents to $1.95.
Louisiana light sweet crude was down about $4 to $22 per barrel.
“The crisis facing the industry is impossible to overstate,” Louisiana Oil & Gas Association President Gifford Briggs said on the LOGA website Monday. “The global demand destruction of oil, caused by the worldwide shutdown of the economy, has sent prices to the lowest in history when adjusted for inflation. There is no magic pill that will save the thousands of jobs that will be lost, but we can immediately take steps to limit the losses.”
“President Donald Trump has outlined a clear plan to get the economy moving again. It is time that Louisiana, Texas and other states work with President Trump to implement his plan as soon as possible, and lean on countries around the world to do the same.
“Until demand rebounds, if industry is going to survive we will need severance tax relief, royalty relief, and an end to the government sponsored coastal lawsuits. State leaders must take comprehensive action immediately or we will lose an entire industry, and the jobs, wages, families and communities that are sustained by it.
“Many of our members are being told they cannot deliver crude in May due to storage constraints, and as a result have begun planning to shut in 100% of their Louisiana production,” Briggs added. “It’s an absolute worst case scenario, a perfect storm.”
At his daily COVID-19 press briefing, Gov. John Bel Edwards said he had no specific comment about a situation that the country hasn’t faced before now.
“We obviously look forward to the day when oil will command the price it ought to so that we can have a vibrant industry and the employment that goes with it,” Edwards said.
Some people may enjoy the resulting low gasoline prices, the governor said. “But for a state like Louisiana, the trade-off is not a good one.”
About 175,000 Louisiana people are employed in the natural resources and mining sector that includes oil and gas extraction.