Since mid-March, when COVID-19 was declared a pandemic and Saudi Arabia initiated an oil price war, the industry has been anticipating a precipitous short-term decline in deepwater activities. Though WTI has crept up into the high $30 range, even eclipsing $40 briefly, we are now seeing the effects of the plunge in oil prices on deepwater…

The recent collapse of oil to below zero was not driven by fundamentals in the supply and demand of oil. Rather, it was a function of oil traders and speculators having to sell their way out of a badly timed trade. The speculators that own oil delivery contracts have no intent of taking delivery of…