1. The latest reading, with a timestamp
$104.34 a barrel of Brent at 07:01 CEST on Sunday 27 September is the aggregated quote from our own price feed; with no trading at the weekend it matches Friday's settlement of $104.32 (EnergyNow). Trading resumes overnight into Monday, and the status line at the top moves with it. The week before was one of the most restless in months: from $99.97 on Tuesday the price climbed to $106.60 within two days, then slipped back to $104.32 on Friday.
| Date | Brent | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 27 Sep 2026, 07:01 CEST | $104.34 | our API (Friday's level) |
| 25 Sep 2026, settlement | $104.32 (−2.14 %) | EnergyNow |
| 24 Sep 2026, settlement | $106.60 (+3.4 %) | Reuters via Investing.com |
| 24 Sep 2026, 10 a.m. ET | $104.67 | Fortune |
| 22 Sep 2026, 17:30 UTC | $99.97 | our API |
| 18 Sep 2026, settlement | $103.87 | EnergyNow |
| a month earlier | $94.42 | Fortune (24 Sep) |
| a year earlier | $68.94 | Fortune (24 Sep) |
| 31 Mar 2026 (year high) | $118.35 | Wikipedia |
| 1 Jul 2026 (year low) | $71.57 | Wikipedia |
Why WTI now sits about twelve dollars below Brent, and what separates the two grades, is explained in our glossary under Brent and WTI; part of the gap comes from WTI rolling to the November contract (EnergyNow).
2. Why the oil price is swinging so hard
Last week had three turning points, all of them political. On 22 September Brent dropped below $100 after Iran first offered to reopen Hormuz within seven days (our API, Reuters via Israel Hayom). On 24 September it jumped 3.4 per cent to $106.60 after Saudi Arabia intercepted six Houthi missiles aimed at Taif and the Yanbu area, the Red Sea end of the East-West pipeline (Reuters via Investing.com). On 25 September it fell 2.14 per cent to $104.32 as Iran tabled a worked-out seven-day roadmap at the UN General Assembly (EnergyNow, Al Jazeera). Net, Brent gained 0.43 per cent on the week; WTI lost 7.87 per cent, partly because of the contract roll (EnergyNow).
The weekend brought the reversal in the news, not yet in the price. President Trump rejected the roadmap on 26 September: "I'm rejecting their deal" (CBS News). Foreign Minister Araghchi said on 27 September that Iran would not back down on its conditions and was waiting for the official answer through the mediators (Al Jazeera). The same Saturday Saudi air defences intercepted Houthi drones over Riyadh and a missile heading for Khamis Mushait (Times of Israel), and Ukrainian drones halted the Ilsky refinery in Russia's Krasnodar region, which produces nearly 6.6 million tonnes of fuel a year (Kyiv Independent).
For the start of the week that means the reason Brent fell on Friday has been withdrawn. EnergyNow already named further Houthi attacks on infrastructure and exceptionally tight diesel supplies on Friday as the factors that could reverse the decline. Whether that happens on Monday, and by how much, is for the market to decide, not this page; the scenarios are on Hormuz plan rejected: what it means for fuel prices.
3. What holds the price back and what drives it
There are forces in both directions, and both are documented. Holding prices back: the talks channel through Qatar, Oman and the UN has not closed (CBS News), about 10 million barrels a day move through Hormuz under US control (CENTCOM, 20 September), and the EIA's base case expects $90.66 in the fourth quarter of 2026 and $73.74 on average in 2027 (STEO, 9 September). More on Oil price forecast 2027.
Driving them is mainly diesel. US distillate stocks are at their lowest September level since 1982 (EnergyNow, 22 September), Russia bans diesel exports until the end of October, and Ilsky is one more refinery offline. Freight now makes up at least a quarter of the crude price to Asia, against five to six per cent in 2025 (OilPrice.com, 22 September). And there is the summer precedent: after the ceasefire broke on 8 July, Brent went from $71.57 on 1 July to $96.78 on 24 July (Wikipedia). Why diesel rises faster than crude is explained on Diesel shortage winter 2026/27.
4. What the oil price means for heating oil, diesel and gasoline
Heating oil follows Brent with a lag of days, by way of the gasoil market. In the United States diesel hit a record $6.53 a gallon on 22 September and gasoline stood at $4.48 (AAA); the EIA's weekly residential heating oil survey resumes on 7 October. As a rule of thumb from our methodology, ten dollars a barrel is roughly 24 cents a gallon before taxes (42 gallons to the barrel), so the four-dollar swing between 22 and 25 September is about ten cents a gallon once refiners and dealers pass it on. What that means for the winter is on Heating oil price predictions and, for the Northeast, on Northeast heating oil forecast.
In Europe, German heating oil cost €167.47 per 100 litres on 27 September (HeizOel24) and French heating oil €1,854 per 1,000 litres on 26 September (prixfioul.fr). From 1 October Germany cuts the tax on petrol and diesel by up to 17 cents a litre, but not on heating oil; details on Germany's fuel tax cut.
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