UPDATE 10-Brent oil drops to near two-decade lows on falling demand, storage woes

* Brent front-month trades at lowest since December 2001
* WTI May price recovers to above $0
* Trump calls for funds for U.S. oil industry
* Coming Up: API's U.S. oil inventory data at 4:30 p.m. EDT

(Adds latest prices; changes byline/dateline, previous LONDON)
By Scott DiSavino
NEW YORK, April 21 (Reuters) - Oil futures for June plunged
to near two-decade lows on Tuesday, as the panic that sent U.S.
May futures to below minus $40 per barrel on Monday bled further
into the markets due to worries about the coronavirus pandemic's
effect on fuel demand in a market overrun by supply.
U.S. crude futures slumped in dramatic fashion on Monday,
with the front-month May contract, which expires Tuesday,
settling at negative $37.63 a barrel. That steep fall came as
traders scrambled to get out of the contract to avoid taking
delivery of barrels for fear of nowhere to store the oil and
lack of customers who want to buy it.
While that trade is somewhat anomalous, the steep decline in
both Brent and U.S. futures expiring in June shows that the
market is worried that the overwhelming supply and weak demand
will leave barrels without a home for weeks to come.
Brent futures LCOc1 for June delivery fell $6.34, or
24.8%, to $19.23 a barrel by 11:45 a.m. EDT (1545 GMT), while
U.S. crude CLc2 for June fell about $7, or 35%, to around
$13.34.
At their session lows, the Brent front-month fell to $18.10
a barrel, its lowest since December 2001, while the WTI
second-month fell to $11.79, the lowest for that contract since
February 1999.
WTI for May delivery CLc1 , meanwhile, rebounded from its
negative condition. It was trading at $5.39 a barrel, as most of
the open positions in that contract coming into this week were
settled on Monday.
"With available storage in short supply, nobody wanted to
hold a contract about to come due," Konstantinos Venetis, senior
economist at TS Lombard, an independent investment research
provider, said in a note. "U.S. shale producers are fast
approaching the point where they will be forced to shut down
operations."
The main U.S. storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery
point for WTI is expected to be full within weeks. U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday called on the
government to make funds available to the U.S. oil and gas
industry, calling Monday's crash a "financial squeeze" and
mooting a halt to Saudi imports.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and
its allies, including Russia, have announced sweeping cuts in
production, amounting to almost 10% of global supplies. But with
economies virtually at a standstill due to coronavirus
lockdowns, demand has dropped as much as 30%.
"With no more generous production cuts announced and as the
last remaining storage facilities get filled to the top with
oil, we can expect to see such huge swings in oil prices from
now on," Louise Dickson of consultancy Rystad Energy said.
"The mild daily changes in the oil price that we were used
to some months ago may now become luxuries of another era."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said leading global oil
producers could hold talks again to discuss their output deal
further if needed. Top oil exporter and de facto OPEC leader Saudi Arabia said
it was ready to take extra measures to stabilise oil markets
along with other producers. U.S. crude inventories were expected to rise by about 16.1
million barrels in the week to April 17 after posting the
biggest one-week build in history, five analysts polled by
Reuters found. EIA/S
The American Petroleum Institute is set to release its data
at 4:30 p.m. (2030 GMT) on Tuesday.