Oil Industry Braces for Biggest Idling of Wells in 35 Years (1)

Only the old hands at the Coffeyville oil refinery could remember anything like the prices posted this month. The small Kansas plant in the heart of rural America was offering just $1.75 a barrel for Wyoming sweet crude.

With more than two billion people on virus lockdown from India to California, energy demand has plunged. In corners of the U.S., Canada, Russia and China, oil prices at the well-head are collapsing under the weight of an unprecedented glut.

And with it, the industry is bracing for something that last happened on this scale 35 years ago: producers shutting down their ...