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A comment on Oil plunges below zero for first time with May contract ending. Parent comment

Re:Oil plunges below zero for first time with May contract e... by Tuna-Fish on Monday April 20, 2020 @03:11PM (#22927233)
Also full. The proportion of the global tanker fleet that is just full of oil sitting off coast near refineries is at an all time high.

A lot of speculators were betting that oil prices were going to go up and had rented ships and filled them with oil they though was cheap, before COVID-19 even hit. Since then, oil prices have absolutely cratered.

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Re:Oil plunges below zero for first time with May contract e... by willturman on Monday April 20, 2020 @04:40PM (#22928267)
How do these tanker contracts work?

Are speculators leasing the tankers on a month to month basis? What happens when/if the tanker isn't offloaded at the end of a contract?

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Re:Oil plunges below zero for first time with May contract e... by cascom on Monday April 20, 2020 @05:22PM (#22928712)
Typically most tankers are owner operated, under a long-term charter or on the spot market they are doing jobs that days/weeks/months

It’s a pretty efficient market

See this article (Suspect rates have climbed even further as the storage trade becomes more lucrative.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gauravsharma/2020/03/12/superta...

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