Energy Prospectus

Opening Prices:
> The June NYMEX contract for WTI opened at $14.83, down $5.60 from the April 20 closing price.
> The June NYMEX contract of HH natural gas opened at $2.066, up $0.017 from the April 20 closing price.

As you can read in my previous post, the "paper trading" of WTI is really screwed up as traders that are stuck long on the near month contracts are unable to find buyers. When we aren't in Crazy Coronavirus World the refiners who can take physical delivery are more than willing to pick up cheap contracts from dumb traders. However, with storage filling rapidly and storage fees going through the roof (I heard yesterday that one storage location was asking $19/bbl/month for storage fees) there are few buyers and the paper traders that are long these contracts are in deep do-do. < a technical term.

Forbes:
"Yesterday, May futures for WTI crude, a benchmark often used for U.S.-sourced oil, crashed into negative territory for the first time ever. It was the last day to trade a May contract, and with storage space filling up as oil demand craters, contract holders with nowhere to put the oil they were obligated to physically accept were forced to pay to have somebody take contracts off their hands. This moment represents a stunning new chapter in the ongoing oil crisis that has seen record drops for oil consumption and prices globally. Spot prices in May will remain depressed, and the June market is likely to be painful as well. It may seem like the days of $40 oil are behind us, and that we’re witnessing the beginning of the end for oil as the lifeblood of the global economy. We aren’t: Oil will one day return to $40 a barrel, but the last few weeks have demonstrated in hyperdrive how the oil endgame will play out."

Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentanale ... 5c86f6fdb4