ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

2020–2022 world oil market chronology

Alright kiddo, so you know gas is what makes your car go vroom vroom, right? Well, gas comes from oil. Now, oil is a big business all around the world and lots of people make money from it.

But something happened in 2020 that changed the oil market. A virus called COVID-19 happened and it made people sick all around the world. This meant that lots of countries had to slow down and people were staying home more. When people are not using as much gas, then there is too much oil and not enough people to use it.

This made the price of oil go way down. The big companies that make money from oil didn't like this because they were making less money. They decided to change how much oil they were making to try and make it worth more money again. But because there was still too much oil, the prices were still low.

Then, in 2021, things started to change. More people were getting vaccines for COVID-19 and countries started to open up again. This meant that more people were using gas again and there was less oil on the market.

Because of this, the price of oil started to go up again! But it's important to remember that the companies that make money from oil also have to be careful not to make too much oil and not have anyone to buy it. So they are still trying to figure out how much oil to make as the world starts to get back to normal.

So that's basically what happened in the oil market from 2020 to 2022. It's a big business and things can change very quickly depending on what's happening in the world. But now you know a little bit more about how it works!