Oil markets crashed more than 30% after the disintegration of the OPEC+ alliance triggered an all-out price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia that is likely to have sweeping political and economic consequences.

Brent futures suffered the second-largest decline on record in the opening seconds of trading in Asia, behind only the plunge during the Gulf War in 1991. As the global oil benchmark plummeted to as low as $31.02 a barrel, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. warned prices could drop to near $20 a barrel.

Brent for May settlement tumbled as much as $14.25 a barrel to $31.02 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe Exchange, the biggest intra-day loss since the U.S.-led bombing of Iraq in January 1991. It pared some of those losses to trade 21% lower at $35.71 a barrel as of 9:15 a.m. in Singapore.

West Texas Intermediate crude slumped 21% to $32.48 a barrel after sliding as much as 27% to $30 a barrel just after the open. Trading was frozen for the first few minutes because of the scale of the loss.

Source : Bloomberg