Eighteen months after the historic moment when crude oil prices briefly went negative, the oil market has turned upside down.
In April 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic triggered such a sharp drop in oil demand in the wake of a Russian-Saudi price war that the world was running out of places to store it. Oil prices briefly dipped below zero, indicating that those holding the contract for the expiring front-month contract at the time had to pay buyers to take oil off their hands.