The world could soon run out of space to store oil

This oil glut is creating a scenario where some obscure grades of oil already have actually dropped below zero. For instance, a Wyoming crude grade was recently bid at negative 19 cents a barrel, Bloomberg News reported last week.

Shrinking storage capacity means that oil producers in some cases have to pay someone just to take the barrels off their hands.

“The price is trying to go to a level to force companies to keep the oil in the ground. If it has to go negative to incentivize that behavior, then it will,” said Neuberger’s Wyll.

Brent, the global benchmark, is likely protected from this because it’s priced on an island in the North Sea where tank storage is accessible. But other grades of crude are located far from water.

WTI, however, is 500 miles from water. That’s why Goldman’s Currie said WTI, especially WTI Midland, and Canada’s Western Canadian Select “can go negative.”

Subzero oil prices are certainly bizarre, but there is some limited precedence in the energy market.

Last year, US natural gas prices in West Texas traded in negative territory for more than two weeks because there were not enough pipelines to carry the gas away, Reuters reported.

‘Mother of all market surpluses’

But even then, negative natural gas prices didn’t really discourage production. That’s because the West Texas natural gas was largely a byproduct of oil pumped from the Permian Basin. Oil companies were willing to take a loss on the natural gas to get what was then a valuable barrel of oil.

With the collapse in oil prices, oil has lost more than two-thirds of its value since the January peak.

Now, US oil companies are starting to make the painful decision of “shutting in” production, albeit reluctantly.

Physical constraints have forced at least 900,000 barrels per day of announced “shut-ins,” according to Goldman Sachs, which noted the true number is likely higher and “growing by the hour.”

Rystad Energy said that the “mother of all oil market surpluses” will force large production shut-ins in April and May. Older, less productive oil wells will likely shut down first.

Even the strongest US oil companies say they’ll scale back spending and production. Chevron (CVX), for instance, announced plans last week to slash spending by 30% and lowered its output targets in the Permian by 20%.

Eventually, the industry could lose as much as 5 million barrels per day of oil supply capacity, Goldman Sachs said.

Will this set the stage for an oil shock?

Of course, the weak demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic won’t last forever.

Eventually, airlines will take to the air again and start buying jet fuel. American drivers will buy more gasoline as they get back to work.

But by that point the oil industry might not be producing as much oil as before because wells shut down. Today’s oil glut may suddenly turn into tomorrow’s oil scarcity, pushing prices “far above” $55 next year, Goldman Sachs commodities head Jeffrey Currie said.

“This will ultimately create an inflationary oil supply shock of historic proportions,” Currie wrote.