Oil prices ended New York trading in the negative for the first time, as a supply glut forced traders to pay others to take the commodity.
With space to store oil scarce, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for May delivery ended trading at -$37.63 a barrel ahead of tomorrow's close for futures contracts - when traders who buy and sell the commodity for profit would have had to take physical possession of it.
The WTI contract for June delivery is trading at a still low $22 a barrel. US oil prices crashed earlier today to nearly $11 per barrel, the lowest level since 1998, extending a dizzying plunge to almost 40% on abundant supplies and virus-sapped demand.