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Oil prices reach historic low, Canadian benchmark for crude plummets

U.S. crude prices on the May contract have dropped below zero for the first time in history.

The price for oil has entered uncharted territory as it dropped to negative $1.43, down 106% on the May contract.

The extreme drop is because of oversupply caused by plummeting demand that pushes storage facilities to their limits.

Western Canadian Select (WCS), the benchmark for oilsands crude, was below zero at one point, but recovered to around $8 a barrel Monday afternoon.

Several oil companies are slashing spending as more oil builds up in storage.

OPEC reached a deal to cut production a few days ago, however that’s not set to kick in until May. Storage facilities across North America are now nearing capacity.

Patrick Siedlecki
Patrick Siedlecki
Pat has been a mainstay in the CJOC News department from the time the station launched in 2007. He's been in the position of News Director since then and has been anchoring daily news casts as well as reporting and working behind the scenes. Community is important to him and keeping CJOC listeners and readers informed about what's happening across southern Alberta and beyond. Pat has been in radio broadcasting for the past 24 years, starting in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in 1997 and then moving up island to Nanaimo for another few years before heading to Lethbridge in 2007. Pat grew up in the small Saskatchewan farming town of Foam Lake. After high school, he went to Western Academy Broadcasting College (WABC) in Saskatoon prior to moving to the island. Pat also spent several years broadcasting hockey in the BCHL as well as seven years as the radio voice of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL. Pat has been working at Cornerstone Funeral Home in Lethbridge as a Certified Life Celebrant and Funeral Assistant since 2016. News and sports have always been Pat's passion from the time he was a teenager and he's always been grateful to have had the opportunity to make that part of what's been a fun and long radio career!
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