Oil prices fell bellow zero last night for the first time on record. This literally means that anyone could conceivably buy up supplies and pumping operations. What could this mean? (thread 1/7)

Climate activist groups, such as @350, have claimed this should highlight to oil companies that the best place to keep oil is in the ground. @Bloomberg also wrote that climate activists can afford to buy dormant pumps, rendering them unusable in the future by companies (2/7)

However, questions remain as to whether such a swift fall in price beneficial to the economy & the environment. We know that to achieve energy demand, alongside net zero targets, the capabilities and skill sets of oil companies are a necessary "evil" (if you will) (3/7)

Carbon, capture and storage cannot happen without decommissioned oil & gas infrastructure and the sector's engineers & as it stands, renewables will not meet UK or global demand for energy (4/7)

Furthermore, there is nothing to stop state leaders "bailing out" the oil companies, as President Trump has somewhat floated a plan to pay producers for oil they haven’t even extracted, which could significantly impact the shift to carbon neutrality long term (5/7)

Another element is that banks currently loan against oil and gas reserves & will now most likely be reluctant to do so again after acquiring shale debts. Covid-19 won't last forever and oil demand will once again rise, but not without lasting negative economic impacts (6/7)

Globally, the oil & gas sector employs 9.8m people, with nearly 300,000 of those in the UK. We need to bring the sector along with the transition to a green economy. This hit to oil will create a lot of losers in the long term & its not yet clear where the losses will lie (7/7)