Emergency Meeting Called After U.S. Crude Oil Futures Reach Historic Lows

The troubled oil market will have a major impact on North Dakota's economy

BISMARCK, N.D. — Oil prices plunge below zero, the latest never-before-seen number to come out of the economic coma caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The troubled oil market will have a major impact on North Dakota’s economy and Gov. Doug Burgum plans an emergency meeting of the Industrial Commission to take action.

“We’ll be considering at that commission meeting an emergency order to classify oil and gas produced at a loss to be considered a waste,” said Burgum.

“The state of North Dakota works closely with that industry and that industry pays a lot of the bills here in North Dakota.”

The cost to have a barrel of U.S. crude delivered in May plummeted to negative $37 as oil storage tanks run closer to full amid a worldwide glut.

The governor also announcing the appointments of Gen. Robert Schulte to handle widespread testing and Vern Dosch to be in charge of contact tracing of COVID-19.

The roles were created as part of North Dakota Smart Restart to get the economy fully reopened.