To the Point

With demand for oil at an all-time low, will there be new opportunities for renewable energy?

Twenty-seven massive tankers float off the Port of LA, loaded with oil that has no place to go. Demand has dropped so much during the economic fallout from COVID-19 that prices plummeted below zero for the first time in history.

By Warren Olney • Apr 30, 2020 • 59m Listen

The economic shutdown from COVID-19 cut the demand for oil — so much so that the price per barrel dropped below zero for the first time in history. Storage space is now more valuable than the oil itself. And things won’t get much better when the economy picks up again.

Warren Olney
former KCRW broadcaster
Andrea Brody
Senior Producer, KCRW's Life Examined and To the Point podcast
Ben Lefebvre
Energy reporter for Politico
Dan Reicher
Founder and executive director of Stanford University's Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance.
Margaret Renkl
New York Times contributing opinion writer who covers flora, fauna, politics and culture in the American South; author of “Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss.”

To the Point

With demand for oil at an all-time low, will there be new opportunities for renewable energy?

Twenty-seven massive tankers float off the Port of LA, loaded with oil that has no place to go. Demand has dropped so much during the economic fallout from COVID-19 that prices plummeted below zero for the first time in history.

Share

To the Point

With demand for oil at an all-time low, will there be new opportunities for renewable energy?

Twenty-seven massive tankers float off the Port of LA, loaded with oil that has no place to go. Demand has dropped so much during the economic fallout from COVID-19 that prices plummeted below zero for the first time in history.

Share