Last week Royal Dutch Shell did something that would have been nearly unthinkable at the beginning of this year. The company cut its dividend for the first time in 75 years. This is remarkable considering the ups and downs of the oil industry of the past few decades. Prices have collapsed many times since then, albeit we have never before seen a major benchmark turn negative. But the COVID-19 pandemic has hit oil demand in an unprecedented way. A few days ago, Bloomberg posted an article showing that energy demand has just dropped by the largest percentage since World War II (which was the last time Shell cut its dividend). That’s true, but in 1945 global oil demand had yet to reach 10 million barrels per day (bpd). In contrast, COVID-19 has sidelined an estimated 30 million bpd of oil demand. Thus, the global oil industry is coping with […]