As businesses across the board come to terms with the adverse impact of covid-19, the oil sector has become witness to massive volatility and downturns. West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the marker for US crude turned negative on 20 April 2020 due to demand collapse and the lack of adequate storage capacity. Global supermajors have witnessed erosion of their market capitalisation by 40-50% over a six-month timeframe. Liquidity in the market has become extremely tight for most players across the value chain. In the oilfield services sector, there have been a number of layoff or furlough announcements. The global oil industry has witnessed shocks, but never on this scale. The disagreements among key producers on the quantities to produce keeps the market perpetually on tenterhooks.
For India, the low crude oil prices provide some relief on input costs as well as on the current account situation.
