Crude oil plunges 30% to $30 a barrel; $20 possible going ahead: Analysts

Brent crude oil prices hit $31 a barrel, down nearly 30 per cent in trade on Monday and extended their 10 per cent weekend drop as the world’s biggest crude producers failed to agree on production cuts, kicking off a price war and sending oil into freefall.

Saudi Arabia that slashed prices for April delivery by $4-6 a barrel to Asia and $7 to the United States has far more fire-power than Russia in terms of readily available spare oil production capacity, analysts say, and the action is indeed the start of a price war among all producers, which in other words, is nothing but a race to the bottom.