Oil reversed course downward after Iraq's oil ministry announced that production volumes had reached record levels in December, while on the other side of the chain, Japan's imports of the black commodity tumbled 2.3% in 2015, the biggest decline in nearly two decades, intensifying fears of rising supply in a world of sagging demand growth.

Brent crude futures lost 70 cents, or 2.10% to $32.22 a barrel, after surging 10% on Friday, while U.S. crude futures tumbled a dollar, or 3.11% to fetch $31.27 a barrel.

Safe havens rose considerably as investors dump riskier assets, with silver prices jumping one percent, or 14 cents to $14.21 an ounce, while gold futures advanced ten dollars, or 0.88% to $1,106 an ounce.

European shares took a deep hit as energy shares slumped along with oil, with the pan-European index FTSEurofirst sliding 0.80% to 1,321. Germany's DAX gave up half a percent, or fifty points to trade at 9,714, while France's CAC 40 index dropped 30 points, or 0.70% to 4,306. Britain's FTSE dropped  30 points, or 0.50% to 5,870.

Wall Street opened in the red in tandem with their European counterparts, with Dow Jones dipping 60 points, or 0.38% to 16,030. NASDAQ fell 10 points, or 0.23% to 4,580. S&P 500 lost 8 points, or half a percent to trade at 1,897.