Crude oil prices today: WTI rose 1.38%, Brent Crude rose 1.31%.
What is the price of crude oil today?
WTI futures traded at $69.11 a barrel, as of 9 a.m. ET. Year to date, WTI prices are down 5.90%.
Brent futures traded at $72.81/bbl, an increase of 1.31% in the last 24 hours. Year to date, Brent prices are down 7.91%.
What is the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil today?
WTI futures rose 1.38% to $69.11/bbl, as of 9 am ET.
WTI oil price chart
West Texas Intermediate prices have fallen below 2024, but prices have fallen 18.45% over the past three years.
WTI crude fell to a 52-week low of $64.78 a barrel on Sept. 10, 2024. It reached a 52-week high of $87.85 on April 5, 2024. It is 21.33% higher than the current futures price.
The price of Brent crude oil
Brent futures rose 1.31% to $72.81/bbl, as of 9 am ET.
Brent crude chart
Brent crude oil is often subject to the same supply and demand factors that drive WTI crude prices, so the long-term price chart looks very similar to the WTI chart.
Brent crude oil prices reached an all-time high of $147.50/bbl during the oil market in July 2008. However, WTI futures contract prices fell as low as $40/bbl on the 20 April, 2020, are mainly influenced by the lack of money. US savings options during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brent futures remained above zero, down $25/bbl on the day.
Brent crude fell to a 52-week low of $68.33 per barrel on Sep. 11, 2024. It reached a 52-week high of $92.58 on April 12, 2024. It is 21.35% higher than the current futures price.
What is crude oil? And what is the mess used for?
Crude oil is one of the world’s most important commodities, serving as an important source of energy and as a raw material used to produce plastics, chemicals and other products. Almost all crude oil imported or produced in the US is refined into petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel fuel, and heating oil.
The prices of US WTI crude oil and international Brent crude oil are influenced by several factors that can change the market supply and demand balance.
Weather conditions in the US market could significantly alter the near-term demand for heating oil and natural gas, causing crude oil prices to rise.
Natural disasters and environmental conflicts around the world can disrupt production and cause oil supply shortages. American and global conditions experience very high demand for industrial energy during periods of strong economic growth and low demand during recessions. Ultimately, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries can change the global supply of crude oil by increasing or decreasing production.
WTI
WTI crude is a combination of oil extracted from the US oilfields of Texas, North Dakota and Louisiana and delivered to Cushing, Oklahoma.
WTI oil has an American Petroleum Institute specific gravity of 39.6 degrees, which is considered “light.” WTI also contains only 0.24% sulfur, making it very “sweet”. WTI crude oil is often the benchmark for US oil prices in the trading world.
Brent crude
Brent crude is a sweet, light blend of oil extracted from the North Sea near Europe.
Brent crude is oil extracted from the Brent, Ekofisk, Forties and Oseberg oil fields. Brent has an API gravity of 38 degrees and a sulfur content of 0.4%, making it lighter and sweeter than WTI. Brent is often used as a benchmark for international oil markets, such as the Middle East, European and African markets.
WTI vs. Brent crude
The WTI and Brent crude oil blends are both sweet, light crudes used as benchmarks in the financial markets. However, there are five key differences between WTI and Brent:
- Exemption: WTI is extracted from the US oil fields in Texas, North Dakota and Louisiana, while Brent crude is extracted from the North Sea near Europe.
- Model: WTI is lighter and sweeter than Brent oil.
- Geopolitics: WTI prices are largely influenced by US politics and policies, while international politics and sanctions have a greater impact on Brent prices.
- Exchange: Brent crude futures contracts are traded primarily on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), while WTI futures contracts are traded primarily on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).
- Price: The prices of WTI and Brent crude oil are highly correlated, but Brent oil has been trading at a lower price than WTI.
Brent Crude/WTI is scattered
The difference between the price of Brent crude and WTI crude is called the Brent/WTI spread.
The Brent/WTI spread has been between $4/bbl and $8/bbl, but could widen or contract depending on factors related to the US and international supply and demand conditions. For example, the Brent/WTI spread reached around $14/bbl in April 2011 as protests fueled market fears of a major oil supply disruption in the Middle East.
Crude oil futures prices
One of the most popular ways traders measure crude oil and other commodity prices is by trading futures contracts. Futures contracts are agreements to buy or sell a specified amount of a commodity at a specified price on a specified future date.
Bad future for WTI
The most popular WTI crude oil futures contracts are traded on the NYMEX. Each CL contract represents 1,000 barrels of oil, and contracts trade Sunday through Friday from 6pm to 5pm US ET.
Brent crude futures
The most popular Brent Crude Oil futures contracts are traded on ICE under the symbol B, but investors can also trade contracts on the CME Globex trading platform under the symbol BZ. Trading hours for Brent futures on CME are the same as for WTI futures: Sunday to Friday from 6pm to 5pm US ET. But Brent futures on ICE trade from 8pm to 6pm US ET on ICE trading days.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Saudi Arabian oil is not WTI, which is produced in the US, or Brent, which is produced in the North Sea near Europe. The country of Saudi Arabia oil companySaudi Aramco uses the Dubai/Oman crude oil standard when purchasing its oil for export to Asia.
Futures contracts are agreements to buy or sell a specified amount of an asset at a specified price on a specified future date. WTI and Brent futures contracts each represent 1,000 barrels of oil per contract.
To buy and sell crude oil futures contracts, you must open a business account which offers commodity futures trading. The main WTI crude oil futures contracts trade on the NYMEX under CL. The main Brent crude oil futures contracts trade on ICE under the symbol B.
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