Brent Crude Oil Price Today

The live figure at the top of this page is the price of one barrel of Brent crude oil in US dollars. A barrel is a fixed volume, not a container size: 42 US gallons, or 158.987 litres. So when the quote reads in the eighties, that is what a single 159-litre barrel of North Sea crude costs on the international market right now, before any refining, shipping, duty or retail margin is added.

The quote refreshes roughly every 60 seconds during market hours. Oil trades nearly around the clock on weekdays, so the number you see in the morning is frequently different from the closing level reported in the news the night before. Weekend figures are the last settlement from Friday, because the market is closed.

If you need the same number expressed differently, the tools above convert it instantly: per litre, per US gallon, or into your own currency.

Brent crude is the world's most widely referenced benchmark for international oil prices. It takes its name from the Brent oilfield in the North Sea, though the modern benchmark is a blend drawn from several North Sea streams rather than a single field. It prices roughly two-thirds of all internationally traded crude.

Brent is a light, sweet crude: light because it flows easily, sweet because it contains little sulphur. Both qualities make it cheaper to refine into petrol and diesel than heavier, higher-sulphur grades, which is why it commands a premium over benchmarks such as Dubai or Urals and why it is the reference most refiners quote against.

The headline number quoted almost everywhere is the front-month ICE Brent futures contract, meaning the nearest delivery month. Physical cargoes are usually priced off Dated Brent, a closely related assessment for cargoes loading in a specific window. The two track each other closely but are not identical, which is why a physical trader and a news headline can quote slightly different Brent prices on the same day.

• OPEC+ supply policy. Production quota decisions from the OPEC+ group shift the supply curve directly, and the market often reprices on the expectation of a meeting outcome well before the decision itself.
• Demand and the economic cycle. Industrial activity, air travel and freight volumes drive consumption. Weak manufacturing data out of large importers tends to pull crude lower even when supply is unchanged.
• The US dollar. Oil is quoted in dollars, so a stronger dollar makes crude more expensive for buyers using other currencies and typically weighs on the dollar price.
• Inventories. Weekly stock builds and draws, particularly in the United States, are read as a real-time measure of whether the market is over or under supplied.
• Geopolitics and shipping routes. Disruption around major producing regions or chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz or the Red Sea adds a risk premium quickly, and removes it just as quickly when tension eases.

These forces are covered in more depth on the why oil prices change page.

A single live number is hard to interpret on its own. Whether the current level is high or low only becomes meaningful next to a range, so it is worth checking today's price against the 52-week high and low and the longer price history.

It is also worth checking which benchmark you actually need. Brent is the seaborne international reference; WTI is the US domestic benchmark delivered at Cushing, Oklahoma, and normally trades a little below Brent. The Brent vs WTI comparison shows the current gap between them. If your contract references one and you are watching the other, that spread is real money.

Finally, remember what this price is not. Crude is the raw input, not the pump price. By the time fuel reaches a filling station it also carries refining costs, distribution, retail margin, excise duty and VAT or sales tax, and in many countries the tax component alone exceeds the crude component. A fall in Brent shows up at the pump slowly, partially, and usually several weeks late.

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