Dateline 2020-12-01, The Diplomat:
2020 has been a rough year for oil companies. In April, with the sudden stop in economic activity due to COVID-19 shutdowns, the price of U.S. crude fell to below zero for the first time in history. Oil companies were essentially forced to pay to store excess crude for a while, and with the global economy still reeling the rebound in demand has been sluggish. Still, the market price for crude bounced back pretty quickly, likely on hopes that this downturn will be short-lived. While it remains below its pre-pandemic price, it has recovered quite a bit since its April lows, with a barrel of West Texas Intermediate fetching $45.53 last week.
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