•On Wednesday, the energy complex had collapsed once again, with crude losing nearly $5, the largest fall (in dollar terms) since the Gulf War in January 1991 and surpassing Monday's $4.53 drop.

•The collapse came as the US stock data was released by the Energy Information Administration which upon initial viewing was bullish. However, upon further digestion of the data, the sluggish demand figures seemed to push traders into a selling spree.

Updated: March 20, 2008