People rolling their WTI longs (from May to June) are getting smoked. If you are long USO, OIL or BNO ETF, this is exactly what you are doing. Avoid these like the plague when the contango is trading at all-time width differential.
Here is a really good article on the pitfalls of investing in USO or other oil ETFs in this current environment. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4338311-betting-on-higher-oil-prices-uso-is-not-right-vehicle USO is all about timing, not a long-term hold investment. You're better off buying CL Nymex futures further out on the curve...like WTI September (CLU20) or December (CLZ20) if you want to bet on oil going up in the next 6 to 9 monhts.
2008/9 was also super-contango, but prices were higher. I think 3-4 months out was in mid-fifties with the front month dropping to mid-40s at expiration for a while. In percentage the spread is higher, must also be greater vs margin requirement.
This chart I’ve made shows 36-month forward curves (every 10 days) over the last 30 odd years. The simple graphic allows you to observe levels of contango appearing briefly in 2009 that are similar to today’s. But otherwise these levels are indeed historic.
The traders who had early and cheap access to storage are making historic money on the super contango.