The price of a barrel of Western Texas Intermediate crude oil, a global benchmark for oil prices, cost less than zero dollars on Monday.
Stay-at-home orders and travel restrictions designed to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus have reduced travel, which in turn caused worldwide demand for oil to drop.
On Monday afternoon, the plummeting price crossed a new threshold and became negative, with a barrel valued at -$38.76 USD. Western Canada Select, Alberta’s main oil export, hit a low of $3.96 — making it just one cent more expensive than a Big Mac on Uber Eats. “These kinds of scenarios only happen when you’re in a depression,” said Greg Poelzer, a University of Saskatchewan political scientist. “The impact of this will carry on for a