With ‘world standing still’ during coronavirus pandemic, oil sector faces unprecedented crisis

[Elderberry]

Houston Chronicle by  James Osborne , Sergio Chapa and Erin Douglas April 2, 2020

With ‘world standing still’ during coronavirus pandemic, oil sector faces unprecedented crisis

The coronavirus pandemic has set off an unprecedented decline in oil demand, setting off a chain reaction that is threatening to bring much of the world oil sector to collapse.

As stay-at-home orders go out around the globe in a bid to slow the virus’s spread, gasoline stations are left with few if any customers, jet planes sit idle on runways and truckers watch their routes cut. In response, refineries, like those that line the Texas Gulf Coast, are slashing their output, which means the crude oil they would have turned into fuel is going into storage tanks.

Only at the current rate of production, those tanks could be full by the end of April, prompting some pipeline companies to begin asking oil and gas producers in West Texas — the center of the U.S. oil boom — to cut production because they are running out of places to send the crude.

More: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/coronavirus-oil-sector-stand-still-crash-economy-15175050.php

[catfish1957]

Houston Chronicle by  James Osborne , Sergio Chapa and Erin Douglas April 2, 2020

With ‘world standing still’ during coronavirus pandemic, oil sector faces unprecedented crisis

Pretty dire outlook.  OTOH, as long as there is some semblence of a supply chain intact, I think there will a base demand for transportation, NG, and all other feedstocks needed from lubricant products  all the way down to the milk bottle.

But no doubt, I see a serious possible shakeout, especially in the E & P sector.  On the back end, as we speak, I imagine almost all refineries are throttling back to minimum.

Of course, if this virus fades during the summer, as some hope......   This outlook, could reverse pretty quickly.