If we take full advantage of cheap oil.

On 20 April, "The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the benchmark for US oil, dropped 14 percent to $15.65 in Asia trading on Monday, the BBC reported. The oil market has  come under intense pressure during the coronavirus pandemic with a huge slump in demand." "Brent oil, the benchmark used by Europe and the rest of the world, was slightly weaker, down 0.8 percent to $27.87 a barrel." One day later, oil prices in the US turned negative as traders tried to sell off futures contracts for May because "Demand for oil has all but dried up as lockdowns across the world have kept people inside. As a result, oil firms have resorted to renting tankers to store the surplus supply and that has forced the price of US oil into negative territory." The price of a barrel of WTI fell as low as minus $37.63 a barrel. "Globally, nearly 90% of all available crude storage is full. "There were 27 oil supertankers anchored off the coast of Southern California last Thursday." The price of petrol in the US fell to $1.77 per gallon, which works out to about Rs 36 per liter. It should be great news for consumers because they can save money on driving and everything should become cheaper as transport costs fall. But, it is also grim news. "The meltdown in crude oil prices is symptomatic of a deep malaise in the global economy, which is expected to enter recessionary zone in 2020 as countries have shut down normal business activity to fight the covid-19 pandemic," wrote Uday Bhaskar. "With India importing 80 percent of its crude oil requirement, the country will need to shell out a lot less money to buy oil from abroad." That may not be enough to offset fall in exports which fell by 34.6% in March and will remain weak this year as other nations struggle to recharge their economies. "Low oil prices can not only reduce India's oil import bills but it can also give a room to the government to increase fuel taxes, offsetting low tax collection." Petrol prices are unchanged at over Rs 70 per liter in India, compared to Rs 36 in the US, showing the government has already increased taxes. Taxes can be collected only if there are sales but fuel sales are down 50% as people are forbidden from traveling. All flights have been canceled so there is no demand for aircraft fuel. Oil is the most important commodity in the world, wrote Simon Jack. "Right now it is telling us that the world economy is in big trouble -- a crisis not yet revealed in backward-looking economic figures." "The next chapter in the oil crisis is now inevitable: great swathes of the petroleum industry is about to start shutting down." In North Dakota oil producers have closed more than 6,000 wells. China has restarted its factories and some states in the US are cautiously opening from shutdown. Low oil prices are good for India, wrote Indrani Bagchi, but it is killing countries dependent on oil revenues such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. If war breaks out in the Middle East as demand starts improving we could see a spike in oil prices. We should prepare from now.