# Chart of the Month | A Price War Erupts in the Oil Market

> Oil prices fell more than 21% on March 9, 2020, the largest one-day drop since the Gulf War, after Russia refused OPEC supply cuts and Saudi Arabia announced a large output increase. The resulting price war hurt US shale producers, and high-yield credit spreads widened toward 2016 levels.

- Date: 2020-03-16 · published 2020-03-16T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: geopolitics · region Global · magnitude high
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/7664-chart-of-the-month-a-price-war-erupts-in-the-oil-market
- Commodities: [Crude Oil (WTI)](https://feedsoft.ai/c/WTI.md), [Crude Oil (Brent)](https://feedsoft.ai/c/BRENT.md)

## Why it matters

The price war removes the OPEC floor under crude and threatens US shale output, which lowers energy costs for feed buyers but raises financial stress across energy-linked sectors.

## Read by commodity

- WTI: bearish ▼
- BRENT: bearish ▼

## Linked price moves

| Commodity | Date | Window | Change % | z-score | Why linked |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WTI | 2020-03-18 | 5 | -30.6% | -6.5 | Describes the March 9 price-war crash that set up the lower starting level for the later slide. |

## Similar past events

| Commodity | Date | Event | 5-day % | 20-day % |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WTI | 2020-03-09 | [Oil plunges in Asia as producers start price war](https://feedsoft.ai/events/4422-oil-plunges-in-asia-as-producers-start-price-war.md) | -23.0% | -31.2% |
| WTI | 2020-03-09 | [The oil price war is on; what that means for buyers of diesel - FreightWaves](https://feedsoft.ai/events/54330-the-oil-price-war-is-on-what-that-means-for-buyers-of-diesel-freightwaves.md) | -23.0% | -31.2% |
| WTI | 2025-11-21 | [Oil prices settle down at lowest in a month as US seeks Russia-Ukraine peace deal \| MarketScreener](https://feedsoft.ai/events/22119-oil-prices-settle-down-at-lowest-in-a-month-as-us-seeks-russia-ukraine-peace.md) | -2.0% | -5.0% |
| WTI | 2026-05-29 | [Brent oil price in May posts biggest monthly loss since 2020](https://feedsoft.ai/events/12487-brent-oil-price-in-may-posts-biggest-monthly-loss-since-2020.md) | +4.6% | -23.5% |
| WTI | 2020-07-31 | [OPEC+ plans to pump more crude into a precarious global oil market](https://feedsoft.ai/events/52006-opec-plans-to-pump-more-crude-into-a-precarious-global-oil-market.md) | +5.2% | +7.7% |
| BRENT | 2020-03-09 | [Oil plunges in Asia as producers start price war](https://feedsoft.ai/events/4422-oil-plunges-in-asia-as-producers-start-price-war.md) | -27.3% | -36.6% |
| BRENT | 2020-03-09 | [The oil price war is on; what that means for buyers of diesel - FreightWaves](https://feedsoft.ai/events/54330-the-oil-price-war-is-on-what-that-means-for-buyers-of-diesel-freightwaves.md) | -27.3% | -36.6% |
| BRENT | 2025-11-21 | [Oil prices settle down at lowest in a month as US seeks Russia-Ukraine peace deal \| MarketScreener](https://feedsoft.ai/events/22119-oil-prices-settle-down-at-lowest-in-a-month-as-us-seeks-russia-ukraine-peace.md) | +0.2% | -5.1% |

## Sources

- commonfund.org: https://www.commonfund.org/blog/chart-price-war-oil-market

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Data from Feedsoft AI (https://feedsoft.ai/). For information only; not investment advice.