The rapid, relentless spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus now looks like the first toppling domino in a column that could plunge the world’s economy into what one expert calls “a darker place” and another, “a bloodbath.”

The second domino? Oil.

As fears about the virus triggered vast quarantines in China and other countries (not including the U.S. — yet), trade and travel ground to a near-halt, sharply reducing the demand for fuel.

Oil and natural gas prices plunged, and on Monday, energy company stocks followed suit, setting off panic selling on Wall Street.

Seeing the threat coming, on Friday Saudi Arabia said it would cut prices and pressed other OPEC countries to do the same. But Russia balked — and over the weekend the Saudis reversed course, joining Moscow in a campaign to flood the market with gas and oil.

“There has always been an assumption that when the oil price collapses the world is going to become a darker place, whether that is driven by the demand side or supply side,” Gregory Perdon, co-chief investment officer at private bankers Arbuthnot Latham, told the Wall Street Journal.

And sure enough, when you peer into the world’s economic tunnel right now, all you see is darkness.

“Oil lost nearly a quarter of its value in futures markets on Monday, dragging shares of energy companies lower. It was what one analyst called ‘another acute shock to markets,’” reports the New York Times.

On Twitter, one of the more astute observers of the energy market and geopolitics sought to put the crisis in perspective.

“US shale has changed the whole global oil picture,” tweeted Gregory Brew, a PhD history researcher based in Washington. He was referring to the enormous amounts of natural gas released in oil-producing parts of the country by shale fracking, like the Oil Patch in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, along with North Dakota.

For all my non-oil peeps, an update:

A few days ago, the big OPEC/Russia meeting ended without a deal to cut production. Now Russia and Saudi, the two biggest exporters, are saying they’re going to maximize production and flood the market.

So why does this matter?

— Gregory Brew (@gbrew24) March 8, 2020

“The squeeze started late last year, as Wall Street started pressing firms to tighten up and impose some fiscal discipline,” Brew wrote.

“But what we might see now is a bloodbath. Gas prices have been floating between $50-60 all year. Most companies can turn a profit at that level. But now prices are in the $40s, with the Saudi surge likely to send them into the $30s.

“The impact will be massive.”

And one who might feel that impact personally, and politically, is the President of the United States, who has often boasted of the economic power granted by U.S. oil production.

“Low gas prices are usually a plus. But for Trump, this could take the wind out of the whole ‘energy dominance’ thing,” Brew wrote, adding that what the situation “really shows” is that Russia is determined “to win back some territory on the global oil market … however it might impact the US economy.”

Meanwhile, other countries are rapidly expanding their actions to limit their exposure to Covid-19, including Israel, which said it would require a 2-week quarantine for anyone, including Israelis, arriving on international flights.

Critics of Israel’s action said it was “at least partly driven by fear of singling out U.S. travelers and angering President Trump,” says the Washington Post.