Top Stories

• The coronavirus-induced global oil supply glut has left crude storage tanks in the United States at almost 85 percent capacity, according to the Energy Information Administration, with 503.6 million barrels of crude in commercial tanks across the country, a rate 6 percent higher than the seasonal average. Amid low demand and falling oil prices, West Texas Intermediate crude dropped below $20 per barrel, almost a two-decade low. (Houston Chronicle)

• Occidental Petroleum Corp. said in a regulatory filing that it will pay back Berkshire Hathaway Inc. the $200 million it owes in common stock at a discount of 10 percent, opting for quarterly payments in shares instead of cash payments amid massive demand declines due to the coronavirus pandemic. Warren Buffett’s holding company provided financial assistance to the Houston-based oil and natural gas producer that was critical in its $38 billion purchase of rival Anadarko Petroleum Corp. last year. (The Wall Street Journal)

• The Trump administration has halted controlled burns on public lands in California due to the coronavirus, citing the “safety of the public and our wildland fire responders” for the decision to suspend the wildfire prevention practice. The U.S. Forest Service, which oversees roughly 60 percent of California’s 33 million forested acres, did not say when controlled burns in the wildfire-plagued state would restart, while Washington and Oregon have also suspended controlled-burn operations. (Reuters)