On Monday evening, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic hit the oil industry and it hit hard. The price of an oil barrel plummeted to an all-time low in history.
The cost of crude oil went down to less than $0 per barrel and people took to Twitter to share their reactions and confusion on the negative prices.
BREAKING: Oil drops below $1 a barrel https://t.co/eKd7HuZjow pic.twitter.com/bk0uPFlupN
— Bloomberg (@business) April 20, 2020
The epidemiologists breath a sigh of relief as everyone on Twitter transforms into an oil economist instead.
— James O'Malley (@Psythor) April 20, 2020
1. Buy up a bunch of oil
2. ???
3. Buy out Jimbo's contract
4. Appoint myself Texas A&M football coach— Amanda Mull (@amandamull) April 20, 2020
Iconic chart.
Too bad it's not because of climate change measures https://t.co/NmERBEMQRT— Maarten Lambrechts (@maartenzam) April 20, 2020
[totally understanding how markets work] Yeah uh let me get ᶠᵒᵘʳ ᵒᶦˡˢ
— Jeremy Gordon (@jeremypgordon) April 20, 2020
Oil is the old data.
— Björn Jeffery (@bjornjeffery) April 21, 2020
"Data is the new oil"
You mean it costs money to store it and nobody wants it?
— Mat Velloso (@matvelloso) April 20, 2020
lot more of you than i expected talkin bout oil prices
— Charlie Warzel (@cwarzel) April 20, 2020
So America destroyed the middle east for oil, thousands and thousands people have been killed in the endless wars and now the price of oil is tanking? #OilPrice pic.twitter.com/jdYC0g2Sow
— Matt 👀 (@Anxious_Matt) April 20, 2020
it's almost as if we just make up how much things cost
— Gene Park (@GenePark) April 20, 2020
Call me when OLIVE oil is under $2 a barrel
— Adam Serwer🍝 (@AdamSerwer) April 20, 2020
Oil is the new data pic.twitter.com/BHJgCINpw7
— Alex Selby-Boothroyd (@AlexSelbyB) April 20, 2020
1 barrel of peanut butter pretzels = 6.6 barrels of oil pic.twitter.com/e4tvfXJONp
— Danielle Alberti (@DanielleAlberti) April 20, 2020
finally 👏🏻 someone 👏🏻 said 👏🏻 it 👏🏻 https://t.co/Tj0r2QBTB4
— Ryan Broderick (@broderick) April 20, 2020
do negative oil prices mean they just give you a barrel oprah style or what
— Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) April 20, 2020
Today’s oil price movements are not unprecedented. In the song “Hot Cross Buns”, the price of the titular buns fell 50% in seconds (from one a penny to two a penny)
— BBQ Ribs (@neonwario) April 20, 2020
Gonna tell my kids I was alive when oil hit $0
— Soha (@SohaTazz) April 20, 2020
#OilPrice pic.twitter.com/gKNnf4M4jP
— Live com Roberto Jefferson (@moarajuliana) April 20, 2020
The next stimulus payout will be sent to you in the form of 80 barrels of oil.
— Kate Hyde (@KateHydeNY) April 20, 2020
these are our political cartoons of our time. It’s genius https://t.co/RfFLPd1kBB
— Gene Park (@GenePark) April 20, 2020
garfield kart is now more expensive than a barrel of oil https://t.co/8Yr8PP1PNm pic.twitter.com/M2aLmnyilv
— the robyn weapon (extreme) 🛡️🌺 (@gaytransistor) April 20, 2020
everyone can have a few barrels of oil, as a treat
— Alex Halpern (@HalpernAlex) April 20, 2020
garfield kart is now more expensive than a barrel of oil https://t.co/8Yr8PP1PNm pic.twitter.com/M2aLmnyilv
— the robyn weapon (extreme) 🛡️🌺 (@gaytransistor) April 20, 2020
I bought my wife a barrel of oil for our anniversary months in advance and now i look like a fucking moron
— wife radicalized by STEM (@gloomfather) April 20, 2020
Why has US #OilPrice dropped below $0?
– No cars, no planes, no ships, no factories so demand for oil is cataclysmically low
– There is excess supply and storage space is running out.
-Oil producers are paying buyers to take the oil off their hands as it's cheaper than storing. pic.twitter.com/HhvXgKPk1f— EdGenie (@EdGenieUK) April 20, 2020
how to buy oil stock
— Gene Park (@GenePark) April 20, 2020
Oil is absolutely collapsing. If you aren’t paying attention you should be. #CNBC #OilPrice pic.twitter.com/goeOUqREvg
— Ryan (@ExpiredOvaltine) April 20, 2020
The plan? Sell more oil by making it so cheap that we’ll pay people to buy it https://t.co/R2TgfZm94k pic.twitter.com/Q69Ff6gOJ7
— Jules (@Julian_Epp) April 20, 2020
It's one barrel of oil Michael, what could it cost? Two dollars?
— Richard Butler (@rmdbutler) April 20, 2020
The May futures contract price went negative, because of a lack of buyers. If they can't unload those contracts by tomorrow, they must take delivery. Speculators never planed to take delivery… so they're panicking. WTI crude is actually trading around $22 #OilPrice
— Veteran Market Timer (@3Xtraders) April 20, 2020
anyone find it really difficult to focus and do work when there's free oil out there
— Gene Park (@GenePark) April 20, 2020
OIL IS FREE https://t.co/q7FNUMPJz0
— azfar playing Animal Crossing (@Azfarovski) April 20, 2020
Good move if you went with Animal Crossing https://t.co/f75CjpuFz5
— Businessweek (@BW) April 20, 2020
BREAKING:
US crude oil prices just plunged to their lowest level in history. pic.twitter.com/Q2aCgnggZs— Economics in Bricks (@econinbricks) April 20, 2020
just to be clear, i also absolutely understand how oil prices work and what it means—shocking stuff (that i have a firm grasp of)
— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) April 20, 2020
May Oil futures doing this on the 10-year anniversary of Deepwater Horizon is….something?
— Jason Abbruzzese (@JasonAbbruzzese) April 20, 2020
Personally I'm offended by all the crude jokes on the timeline today
— Alex Fitzpatrick (@AlexJamesFitz) April 20, 2020
I, too, am turning increasingly negative
— Alex Fitzpatrick (@AlexJamesFitz) April 20, 2020
genuine question: can anybody explains what it actually means when oil prices go negative?
— Steven Rich (@dataeditor) April 20, 2020
Negative oil prices don’t really mean oil is valueless. They mean, at least in theory, that the cost of shutting down a well exceeds the cost of paying people to take oil off your hands.
— Robinson Meyer (@yayitsrob) April 20, 2020
okay I mean a deal is a deal I'm the market for 100 barrels of oil, please DM me if you're selling
— Emanuel Eggberg (@emanuelmaiberg) April 20, 2020
This was hilarious
Oil going to start an onlyfans soon
— Luka Donthičć (@landahoy14) April 20, 2020
"Oil prices below $0"
Oil industry right now:#OilPrice pic.twitter.com/4edjuFlXGx
— 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤 (@imchained2katy) April 20, 2020
The #OilPrice closed at MINUS $37 today.
These tweets NEVER age oil well. https://t.co/a5TuSyjRyH
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) April 20, 2020
oil is just as valuable as tweets now https://t.co/0VeCvOtxGT
— Gene Park (@GenePark) April 20, 2020
America looking at the trillions it has spent in war only to have oil cost less than a bottle of Coke!
😂😂😂 #OilPrice pic.twitter.com/No89iZm7Pp— Dania Shabbir (@DANIA_SHABBIR) April 20, 2020
lot of people making crass jokes about the price of oil but very little consideration being given to those whose loved ones include villainous oil barons. maybe think before you tweet?? 🙄
— puds🤤🍺 (@nightwarning) April 20, 2020
On 4/20 Oil is $0.69 a barrel. We did it folks. We did it. pic.twitter.com/rnzCXwKIoh
— Duncan (@dunkman) April 20, 2020
Oil at the moment pic.twitter.com/djYlUhU7UY
— Danny Makki (@Dannymakkisyria) April 20, 2020
US crude oil futures fall below $0 for the first time in history.
Unbelievebable.Btw Who did this 😅#OilCrash #OilPrice pic.twitter.com/hQB8uLU32K
— AThar 🍂🍂 (@Leo__weirdo) April 20, 2020
Me waiting to see @realDonaldTrump try and blame the oil barrells being worth less than $0 on Obama like he has on many other things #OilPrice pic.twitter.com/jCttPMPIu7
— Roy aka J-Ster aka ScareBear (@DfwSter) April 20, 2020
Gonna start drinking oil instead of water to save money
— Thor Benson (@thor_benson) April 20, 2020
Oil is the new ketchup https://t.co/KuyEAiRDLt
— Mat Velloso (@matvelloso) April 21, 2020
I’ll buy a full tanker load of your finest crude oil, keep the change.#oilprice #OilPrices pic.twitter.com/TnTmcYOh2X
— Amresh Mandal (@resh_ami) April 20, 2020
Me having dinner with JayZ after I buy 1 dollar worth of oil and become an oil baron #OilPrice pic.twitter.com/t6OckpZoLu
— CEO of Poop (@KingSlimeV3) April 20, 2020
the year is 2020. oil is free and a dine-in hamburger is unattainable
— kilgore trout, compulsory consumer (@KT_So_It_Goes) April 20, 2020
I second this tweet https://t.co/IZZX1KTvAx
— Sally Shin (@sallyshin) April 21, 2020
I never thought I’d live to see the day where toilet paper was more valuable than a barrel of oil.
— Frank Pallotta (@frankpallotta) April 21, 2020
When you have no idea what's going on, but the numbers fit your budget. #OilPrice pic.twitter.com/5E15UNb7Bw
— The Bird (@WordWithBird) April 20, 2020
the oil industry right now pic.twitter.com/JjoULJPAtm
— Dr Bread and Poses (@breadandposes) April 20, 2020
Trump's oil advisers right now explaining things to him #OilPrice pic.twitter.com/opOGha7LOv
— KingDead (@KingDeadWolf) April 20, 2020
The #OilPrice closed at MINUS $37 today.
These tweets NEVER age oil well. https://t.co/a5TuSyjRyH
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) April 20, 2020
Been looking to invest and looks like the perfect time to become an oil barron #OilPrice pic.twitter.com/cQTkPNMTwf
— Camden Raynor (@CamdenRaynor) April 20, 2020
Me and the boys waiting for the V-shaped recovery pic.twitter.com/hW60fiLx8K
— Colin 🌐 (@colinmort) April 20, 2020
Me and the boys waiting for the V-shaped recovery pic.twitter.com/hW60fiLx8K
— Colin 🌐 (@colinmort) April 20, 2020
Money for nothin
Oil for free— Jason Abbruzzese (@JasonAbbruzzese) April 20, 2020
$17.99.
I’m not proud of doing this and I wouldn’t quote these numbers. But the EIA estimates that US onshore wind is about $0.035 per kilowatt-hour. And EIA data suggests a barrel of 2020 US crude, in real-world US power plants, could generate 514 kWh. So, a wind barrel is $18. https://t.co/hdknT23OeY
— Robinson Meyer (@yayitsrob) April 20, 2020
$17.99.
I’m not proud of doing this and I wouldn’t quote these numbers. But the EIA estimates that US onshore wind is about $0.035 per kilowatt-hour. And EIA data suggests a barrel of 2020 US crude, in real-world US power plants, could generate 514 kWh. So, a wind barrel is $18. https://t.co/hdknT23OeY
— Robinson Meyer (@yayitsrob) April 20, 2020
THREAD EXPLAINING NEGATIVE OIL:
Oil costs $ to store. Due to the economic collapse, oil isn't being used much. So all the storage facilities are filled up. So nobody who can store it will buy it from you. If you want to get rid of oil, you have to pay someone.
That's the thread
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) April 20, 2020
The plan: Get rid of excess oil by turning the price negative (after discount) pic.twitter.com/t3pLDBjAJX
— Alex Kantrowitz (@Kantrowitz) April 20, 2020
Six days ago. https://t.co/QhVaVjJTKn
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) April 20, 2020
just finished my christmas shopping
every body gets a barrel of oil pic.twitter.com/DuJbjQNjM8— darth™ (@darth) April 20, 2020
new idea to save media: turn open plan media offices into oil storage warehouses https://t.co/0AyNQ7xpcz
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) April 20, 2020
this oil price crash is quite something – Jefferies analyst Jason Gammel calling it “the bleakest oil macro outlook since at least the late 1990s and perhaps ever”. The WTI contract for May delivery was down 31.4 per cent at $12.53 https://t.co/4Yhhkbl4lp pic.twitter.com/p98qnygqRf
— Tony Tassell (@TonyTassell) April 20, 2020
new idea to save media: turn open plan media offices into oil storage warehouses https://t.co/0AyNQ7xpcz
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) April 20, 2020
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