They say this is a price war between the Saudis and the Russkies, but I see it as an attempt by both, colluding to put the US frackers out of business.
Russian need hard currency, so they've been cheating on their production limits with Saudi's.
Along the way, the Saudi royal family created an extensive oil funded welfare state, and need to keep the checks flowing to maintain power. In an attempt to teach the Russians a lesson they are pumping at full rate, betting they have sufficient cash reserves to outlast the Russians, bringing them to heal. Sure they wouldn't mind putting a few U.S. out of business in the process, but that's not their primary objective.
