1. What is the Brent–WTI spread today?
On 3 Nov 2026, Brent closed at $107.03 and WTI at $99.64 in the EIA's spot series, a spread of $7.39 a barrel in Brent's favour, by our own calculation. That is −$14.47 against the October 2026 average of $21.86; the gap has narrowed sharply from its October extremes. In the week to 30 Oct 2026 it averaged $15.58, still 2.8 times the pre-war week to 27 Feb 2026 ($5.49).
Brent minus WTI, daily values 2 Jan 2025 – 3 Nov 2026, $ per barrel
Latest value (3 Nov 2026):
- Brent minus WTI: $7.39
Source: EIA spot prices, own calculation by Global Oil Shock, as of 5 Nov 2026
The spread is the difference between two prices that are quoted every day, so the second chart shows the prices themselves. Brent is the North Sea benchmark priced at a sea terminal and used for most crude traded by tanker; WTI is priced at Cushing, Oklahoma, a landlocked storage hub in the middle of the United States. When they move apart, a barrel at sea and a barrel in Oklahoma are no longer worth the same, whether because of transport costs, export capacity or the risk attached to seaborne supply. The benchmarks are explained under Brent and WTI crude oil, the spot-versus-futures question under spot vs futures.
Brent and WTI, EIA spot prices, daily 2 Jan 2025 – 3 Nov 2026, $ per barrel
Latest value (3 Nov 2026):
- Brent: $107.03
- WTI: $99.64
Source: EIA spot prices, own calculation by Global Oil Shock, as of 5 Nov 2026
A note on the figures. We use the EIA's daily spot assessments, not the ICE Brent and NYMEX WTI futures most news reports quote, so the spread here will not match the futures spread to the cent. Current prices are on oil price today; Brent in euros and francs since 1999 is on Brent in euros and francs.
2. Is the Brent–WTI spread at a record?
By single day, October 2026 holds four of the five widest gaps since 20 May 1987: 2 Oct 2026 at $37.62, 12 Oct 2026 at $34.96, 8 Oct 2026 at $31.92 and 9 Oct 2026 at $31.30; only 20 Apr 2020 at $54.34 is wider, and that day is a special case. On 20 Apr 2020 WTI spot settled at −$36.98 while Brent held at $17.36, so that record reflects the storage squeeze at Cushing rather than two normally traded prices. Excluding it, 2 Oct 2026 is the widest day in the series, $16.72 below the 2020 figure. By weekly average, 2026 holds the record outright: the week to 9 Oct 2026 at $30.56 beat the week to 23 Sep 2011 ($28.33) from 2011.
| Day | Brent − WTI ($/bbl) |
|---|---|
| 20 Apr 2020 | 54.34 |
| 2 Oct 2026 | 37.62 |
| 12 Oct 2026 | 34.96 |
| 8 Oct 2026 | 31.92 |
| 9 Oct 2026 | 31.30 |
Largest daily gaps since 20 May 1987. 20 April 2020 is the day of the negative WTI price (−$36.98, EIA spot).
By monthly average, 2026 does not hold the record. September 2011 at $27.32 remains the widest month, followed by August 2011 at $23.93, and the fourth and fifth places, November 2012 ($22.53) and October 2012 ($22.22), also date from the 2011–2012 episode. October 2026 at $21.86 falls $5.46 short of the 2011 peak month. For anyone citing this page: 2026 holds the daily and weekly records, 2011 the monthly one.
The other end of the distribution is negative. The lowest day was 22 Sep 2008 at −$22.18, when WTI spiked far above Brent during the financial crisis; 17 Sep 2008 at −$11.30 is second. The lowest month was September 2008 at −$6.88. Even in 2026 the sign has flipped: WTI closed above Brent on 11 of the 208 trading days to 3 Nov 2026, about 5.3% of them, with the 2026 low of −$2.45 on 22 Jun 2026. Records refer to EIA spot prices and our own averages of them, which can differ by a few cents from the EIA's.
3. How has the Brent–WTI spread changed since 1987?
From 20 May 1987 to the end of 2010 the spread averaged −$1.29 a barrel, meaning WTI was usually the dearer crude; from 2011 to 2014 it averaged $12.48, from 2015 to 2025 $4.05, and so far in 2026 $9.99. Those are the four phases of the series.
Brent minus WTI (EIA spot), monthly averages May 1987 – Oct 2026, $ per barrel
Latest value (October 2026):
- Brent minus WTI: $21.86
Source: EIA spot prices, own calculation by Global Oil Shock, as of 5 Nov 2026
In the first phase WTI, the lighter and sweeter crude, traded at a small quality premium; the yearly average stayed in a narrow band around zero, from −$3.21 in 2004 to +$0.16 in 2007 at the extremes, and −$2.73 in 2008. The second phase began abruptly in early 2011. According to the EIA's Today in Energy article of 28 June 2013, increased US light sweet crude production combined with limited pipeline capacity to move it left crude stranded at the production fields and at Cushing, the delivery point for the NYMEX WTI contract, which pushed WTI prices down; the same article attributes the subsequent narrowing to new pipeline takeaway capacity added at Cushing from mid-2012 and to US crude moving by rail replacing Brent-like imports on the East Coast. The yearly averages trace that arc: $16.62 in 2011, $17.61 in 2012, $10.58 in 2013.
The third phase has a policy marker. The EIA notes, in its Today in Energy article of 16 August 2016, that restrictions on exporting US crude oil were removed in December 2015. With exports free, a persistent WTI discount could be arbitraged away by shipping barrels abroad, and the spread settled into a band close to the cost of moving crude from Cushing to a tanker: $0.40 in 2016, $6.12 in 2018, $7.34 in 2019, $6.03 in 2022, $3.58 in 2025. The export volumes are on US crude oil exports. The fourth phase is 2026, discussed next; the yearly table runs from 2005.
| Year | Brent − WTI, average ($/bbl) |
|---|---|
| 2005 | -2.12 |
| 2006 | -0.92 |
| 2007 | 0.16 |
| 2008 | -2.73 |
| 2009 | -0.22 |
| 2010 | 0.13 |
| 2011 | 16.62 |
| 2012 | 17.61 |
| 2013 | 10.58 |
| 2014 | 5.75 |
| 2015 | 3.71 |
| 2016 | 0.40 |
| 2017 | 3.37 |
| 2018 | 6.12 |
| 2019 | 7.34 |
| 2020 | 2.49 |
| 2021 | 2.72 |
| 2022 | 6.03 |
| 2023 | 4.89 |
| 2024 | 3.93 |
| 2025 | 3.58 |
| 2026 (to 3 Nov) | 9.99 |
4. How has the spread moved month by month in 2026?
The spread averaged $6.55 in January 2026 and $6.38 in February, jumped to $11.75 in March and $17.66 in April, fell back to $0.83 in June, and then widened again to $17.31 in September and $21.86 in October, the widest month of the year. The 2026 pattern is a double peak. April (Brent $117.29, WTI $99.63) was the first; the gap then closed by $16.83 to June, when Brent fell to $85.63 and WTI to $84.81. The second peak built through September (Brent $114.62, WTI $97.31) into October, the spread widening by +$4.55 month on month.
| Month | Brent ($/bbl) | WTI ($/bbl) | Brent − WTI |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | 123.93 | 102.07 | 21.86 |
| September 2026 | 114.62 | 97.31 | 17.31 |
| August 2026 | 91.08 | 83.74 | 7.34 |
| July 2026 | 84.44 | 80.46 | 3.99 |
| June 2026 | 85.63 | 84.81 | 0.83 |
| May 2026 | 107.14 | 101.73 | 5.41 |
| April 2026 | 117.29 | 99.63 | 17.66 |
| March 2026 | 103.13 | 91.38 | 11.75 |
| February 2026 | 70.89 | 64.51 | 6.38 |
| January 2026 | 66.59 | 60.04 | 6.55 |
| December 2025 | 62.54 | 58.04 | 4.51 |
| November 2025 | 63.77 | 60.06 | 3.71 |
| October 2025 | 64.56 | 60.89 | 3.67 |
Monthly averages of EIA daily values, own calculation.
Why Brent, not WTI, carries the premium in 2026 is a question price data can frame but not settle, and two readings deserve stating side by side. The first starts from geography: Brent prices seaborne crude, and the disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz since the end of February 2026, documented on Hormuz ship transits, removed seaborne supply that Brent-linked buyers in Europe and Asia must replace, while WTI prices a landlocked barrel far from the disrupted sea lanes. The second points to the export route: US export capacity is finite, so when the rest of the world wants more barrels than can leave Cushing, the premium for a barrel already at sea widens. Both readings are consistent with the series; neither is a forecast. How the gap might close is debated on Hormuz reopening: what happens to fuel prices.
5. What does the Brent–WTI spread mean for fuel prices in the US and the UK?
A spread of $21.86 a barrel, the October 2026 average, means a European refiner paying Brent-linked prices started from a feedstock cost 21.4% higher than a US Mid-Continent refiner paying WTI-linked prices; in the first phase of the series that advantage ran the other way. For drivers that is a transatlantic divergence the headline oil price does not explain. UK pump prices are built on Brent; see UK petrol and diesel prices. US pump prices follow WTI and Gulf Coast product markets; their gap to crude is measured weekly on gas prices vs crude oil.
The spread also decides how different the two versions of every product crack look: the diesel crack spread and the jet fuel crack spread are published against both crudes, and the Brent version is lower by exactly the amount on this page. European fuel margins over Brent are on EU fuel prices vs Brent, US crude stocks on US oil inventories.
This page makes no forecast. It records how far apart the two benchmarks are and how that compares with every trading day since 20 May 1987.
Download all values as CSV (UTF-8, raw values and calculation per row, stable URL; CC BY 4.0 for our calculation, raw data under the source's terms)
How to cite: Global Oil Shock (Jörg Dässler), “Brent–WTI Spread 2026: Daily Chart and Records Since 1987”, as of 5 Nov 2026, https://globaloilshock.com/en/data/brent-wti-spread/