2020-21: A year of great volatility in oil prices
The year 2020-21 was amongst the most volatile years for international crude oil prices. Both crude oil demand as well as prices fell sharply during the initial months of the year with lockdowns and travel restrictions in different parts of the world.
Oil prices crashed to such an extent that the price of May futures contract for WTI crude, the benchmark for US crude oil, turned negative on April 21. This happened because investors holding such contracts did not want to take delivery and thus incur storage costs.
With the roll-out of vaccine across the world as well as production cuts announced by oil producer cartel OPEC+, international crude prices have revived and are near pre-pandemic levels as seen in December 2019.
