据4月20日OGJ报道，定于4月21日到期的西得克萨斯中质原油期货(WTI)价格暴跌至负38美元/桶，远低于1983年3月31日创下的近月合约最低值10.42美元/桶。

这一价格是人们担心俄克拉荷马州库欣市的主要存储中心即将达到满负荷运行的情况下制定的。

数月来，一直有关于存储容量在5月中旬将达到最大容量的警告。由于5月合约到期，无仓储条件的交易者不能再接受批量交货，而有仓储条件的交易者则乐于做空市场。

Rystad Energy石油市场分析师路易丝?迪克森（Louise Dickson）表示：“这就像试图解释一些前所未有的、看似不真实的事情！负油价最简单的解释是，由于石油的储量即将达到上限，中游市场的参与者现在向“买家”支付费用，以便在达到实际储油量上限时能将石油运走。为此他们付出了高昂的代价！”

“对于一些运营商而言，现在停产甚至破产可能损失能更小，而不是贴钱来售出他们生产的产品。贸易商一直在大量抢购低价石油，并把库存填满，而现在，西德克萨斯中质原油和库欣中质原油的库存已经达到了物理极限——我们估计只剩下2100万桶的免费存储。”

加拿大皇家银行资本市场(RBC Capital Markets)全球能源战略董事总经理迈克尔?特兰(Michael Tran)表示：“没有什么可以阻止现货市场在短期内进一步大幅下跌。炼油厂正以历史性的速度拒绝原油，随着美国的存储水平飙升至极限，将会进一步地影响市场，直到我们跌至谷底或者疫情结束，以先到者为准，但看起来更像是前者。”

舒晓玲 摘译自 OGJ

原文如下：

WTI plunges into negative territory

The May West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures, due to expire Apr. 21, plunged into negative territory at minus $38/bbl—far below the previous all-time front-month contract low of $10.42/bbl set on Mar. 31, 1983.

The price comes amid fears that the key storage center in Cushing, Okla., will soon approach capacity.

For months, there have been warnings about storage hitting max capacity in mid-May. Traders without access to storage can no longer accept volume deliveries as the May contract expires and traders with storage access are happy to short the market.

“It’s like trying to explain something that is unprecedented and seemingly unreal! The simplest explanation for negative oil prices is that midstream players are now paying ‘buyers’ to take oil volumes away as the physical storage limit will be reached. And they are paying top dollar!” said Louise Dickson an oil markets analyst at Rystad Energy.

“That pricey shut-ins or even bankruptcies could now be cheaper for some operators, instead of paying tens of dollars to get rid of what they produce. Traders have been gobbling up cheap oil and pumping storage full, and now, in the case of WTI and Cushing, storage has reached a physical limit - we estimated that there was only 21 million bbl of free storage left.”

“There is little to prevent the physical market from the further acute downside path over the near term,” said Michael Tran, managing director of global energy strategy at RBC Capital Markets. “Refiners are rejecting barrels at a historic pace and with US storage levels sprinting to the brim, market forces will inflict further pain until either we hit rock bottom, or COVID clears, whichever comes first, but it looks like the former.”