Money Talks

Free Oil!"They're going to be giving this stuff away soon" I mumbled to myselfas I shook change out of a fifteen dollar bill to fill my tank.When I drive by a gas station with low prices, I remark "they're going to be giving it away soon." It's my inside joke that gets a guaranteed eye roll from whoever else is in the car. Sometimes that is just me. Recently, some gas stations have come close to giving gas away, one near my house sold gas for $1 and gave free sandwiches and water away with a fill up recently. Costco was selling gas $1.17/gallon.But yesterday - they really were giving it away for free.To be precise, the price of oil went below $0. People were PAYING to get rid of oil. What's up with that?First, a primer. If you're trading oil for financial purposes (speculation, hedging, fun or profit, etc) you don't go out and secure a few barrels of the stuff, you trade contracts on a bunch of it. These standardized futures contracts state what type of oil, how much ($10,000 barrels, generally