Oil prices plunge as coronavirus keeps people home

Oil prices plunged into negative territory Monday as global coronavirus pandemic keeps people at home and destroys demand for transportation fuel.

price of U.S. benchmark crude to be delivered in May fell below zero - a historic low - as stor capacity reaches its limit. That means sellers are paying buyers to take commodity off ir hands.

"So we've h oil demand collapse. People are driving less. one's flying anywhere. So we have a lot of extra oil supply that's simply t being used," said Jim Burkhard, an oil industry analyst with IHS Markit.

Because of coronavirus and efforts to limit its spre, major cities around world have been on lockdown, flights have been sharply curtailed and millions of people are working from home, leing to far fewer commuters on ros.

But pumps are still running, extracting oil from ground, and all that oil has to go somewhere. And with far fewer people consuming it, it's getting hard to find a place to put oil.

"If it's t being used, it has to go into stor. But re is a limit to how much oil world can store and we're bumping up against limits of stor capacity. And so today we saw price of oil go negative," Burkhard said.

Cheap oil les to cheaper prices at pump, which are often viewed as a boon for consumers, but few people can benefit when y're sheltering at home, Burkhard said.

"It's difficult for anyone to take vant of se lower gasoline prices if y're t driving. So re's winner in this situation today," Burkhard said.

For most people, new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older ults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.