Oil prices hit new lows as economic pain deepens

Undated (AP) – A barrel of oil now costs less than a cheap bottle of wine. Oil tanks are filling up and producers are finding there’s nowhere to put the once-valuable commodity as global demand craters and prices sink to new lows. U.S. benchmark crude was trading around $6.50 a barrel Tuesday. That’s more than 80% lower than the start of the year. The dizzying drop reflected stark suffering in the global economy that has left vastly diminished demand for oil. Some brokers were betting that storage would be more valuable than oil next month, leading some on Monday to pay potential buyers to take oil off their hands.