Brent trading around $25 “confirms that the market is starting to appreciate the gross imbalance between supply and demand,” said Louise Dickson, analyst at Rystad Energy, in emailed commentary. “With each day, there seems to be yet another trapdoor lying beneath oil prices, and we expect to see prices continue to roil until a cost equilibrium is reached and production is shut in.”

In a recent report, analysts at IHS Markit said global oil demand in March and April could be down by as much as 10 million barrels a day, leading into an estimated world supply surplus ranging from 4 million barrels to 10 million barrels a day from February to May of this year.

“The last time that there was a global surplus of this magnitude was never,” said Jim Burkhard, vice president and head of oil markets at IHS Markit, in the report dated March 16.