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Paid to Buy a Barrel of Oil? Oil Price Goes Negative
Episode 65

Paid to Buy a Barrel of Oil? Oil Price Goes Negative

Broken Pie Chart · Broken Pie Chart

April 26, 202023m 7s

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Show Notes

On April 20th, the price of a WTI (West Texas Intermediate) futures contract representing 1000 barrels of oil went to negative -$37 a barrel. How is it possible that you could theoretically be paid to buy oil? How do oil futures work and how storage of oil works with regard to the futures market? The quick answer is, no you cannot buy a single barrel of oil and store it in your garage. Plus, using a silly Ikea couch example to explain why people would pay you to take their oil.

How did the price of oil go negative?

What is the difference between WTI and Brent Crude Oil?

Storing oil in Cushing Oklahoma

Size of 1 oil futures contract (1000 barrels)

Problems with trying to store an oil barrel

Difference between taking physical delivery of oil and speculation

USO exchange traded product methodology

Contango vs. Backwardation in futures market

Rolling front month contracts forward to next month

When does USO roll their front month contracts

Mentioned in this Episode:

Bloomberg funny article "That Time I Tried to Buy an Actual Barrel of Crude Oil" https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-03/that-time-i-tried-to-buy-some-crude-oil

WTI Oil Futures Prices by Month https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/future/crude%20oil%20-%20electronic

Contact Derek www.razorwealth.com

Derek Moore's book Broken Pie Chart https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Pie-Chart-Investment-Portfolio/dp/1787435547/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=broken+pie+chart&qid=1558722226&s=books&sr=1-1-catcorr