Under pressure from all directions (improving efficiency and alternatives (electrification); coronavirus economic collapse; and Saudi-Russian price war), the U.S. oil market collapsed (even further) today with WTI prices as low as $11.50 earlier this morning.
While there are reasons for the particular collapse (oil futures timing) and while the gap between WTI / Brent Crude is (in percentage terms) the highest it has ever been (as water-accessible crude has higher value in this environment than land-locked crude), this is a stunning data point in the massively changed (and changing) energy market space.
Seeing that chart raised the question — when were oil prices ever this low (in inflation adjusted terms)? First thought was ‘not since before Oil Crises’. It appears that ‘first thought’ was wrong. See this February 2020 look at inflation adjusted oil prices.
While Friday’s price was well above the December 1998 lows, the high inflation of the 1970s actually put ‘inflation adjusted’ oil prices prior to 1980 (often well) above $20/barrel in February 2020 terms dating back to at least May 1946.
Update: Last I checked, 1861 is before WWII …
PS: As a side note, when it comes to tar sands, Canadian producers need to pay people to take their products.