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Russian Energy Minister believes speculative traders behind collapse of WTI price

On Monday, the price of a May WTI oil futures contract fell to negative values on the New York Mercantile Exchange, for the first time in US history

© Sergey Bobylev/TASS/

MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. Russia’s Energy Ministry believes that the fall of the May WTI futures to a negative value on Monday was caused by actions of speculative traders, Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters.

"Yesterday, the collapse of oil prices of the American blend WTI occurred due to the sale of May futures on paper at the end of trading session (after April 20, May futures are not traded on the stock exchange), lack of demand for additional oil supplies in May and the likelihood of overstocking at storage facilities. This caused a speculative fall of the futures to negative values, "he said.

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By the end of trading on Tuesday, a June oil futures of this blend fell to the value of less than $14 per barrel.

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