The price of US oil plunged below zero for a second day on Tuesday, as a supply glut in the market leads to a shortage of space to store excess oil. West Texas Intermediate plunged as low as $-40 on Monday, which means producers were having to pay buyers to take their oil. The plunge has been exacerbated by the fact that Tuesday is the final day for contracts to deliver barrels in May, when demand is expected to remain low.
Contracts for June deliveries were trading around $20 on Tuesday. The shutdown in many parts of the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic has seen oil consumption slump by a third.
