A Historic Oil Price Collapse, With Worries Headed Into 2021

A Historic Oil Price Collapse, With Worries Headed Into 2021
An oil worker walks toward a drill rig after placing ground monitoring equipment in the vicinity of the underground horizontal drill in Loving County, Texas, on Nov. 22, 2019. Angus Mordant/Reuters
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NEW YORK—This year was like no other for oil prices.

Even as global prices end the year at about $51 a barrel, near the average for 2015–2017, it masks a year of volatility. In April, U.S. crude plunged deep into negative territory and Brent dropped below $20 per barrel, slammed by the COVID-19 pandemic and a price war between oil giants Saudi Arabia and Russia.