Crude oil
Above normalBrent crude oil price
$95.29/bbl on Aug 18, 2026. Daily spot price, for Europe's North Sea benchmark, the reference for waterborne crude oil trade.
Data through Aug 18, 2026 · source last checked Aug 25, 2026 · page revised Aug 25, 2026
Cite
- Brent spot
About this data
- Source
- EIA daily spot price
- Series
- Brent crude oil spot
- Basis
- FOB, wholesale, untaxed; a crude oil benchmark, not a diesel price
- Geography
- Europe (North Sea benchmark)
- Unit
- $/bbl
- Calculation
- Daily (business days)
- Last observation
- Aug 18, 2026
- Update frequency
- Daily
Now $95.29/bbl, 18% above the 5-yr median.
Brent crude oil was $95.29/bbl on Aug 18, up 2.2% week over week and 39.8% year over year. The waterborne benchmark sits 18% above its five-year median.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | $95.29/bbl | $93.26/bbl | +2.2% |
| vs 4 weeks ago | $95.29/bbl | $86.99/bbl | +9.5% |
| Year over year | $95.29/bbl | $68.18/bbl | +39.8% |
| vs 5-yr median | $95.29/bbl | $81.09/bbl | +17.5% |
Previous weeks
An earlier week
Brent crude hit $93.26/bbl as of Aug 11, +7.9% from the prior week and +38.5% versus a year ago. The North Sea benchmark is running 12% above its 5-year median.
An earlier week
Brent crude fell to $88.90/bbl, down 3.2% on the week. The North Sea benchmark is up 29.4% in four weeks from $68.68/bbl and runs 13% above its 5-year median.
About Brent crude oil price
Brent is the waterborne benchmark: crude priced off the North Sea and used as the reference for crude oil that moves by tanker, which is most of the crude traded internationally. WTI, by contrast, is priced inland at Cushing, Oklahoma and reflects crude that mostly moves by pipeline.
The Brent-WTI gap matters for where a diesel buyer sits. Coastal markets that import crude and refined product by tanker, the East Coast and California especially, price closer to Brent's waterborne economics. The pipeline-connected interior, the Midwest and the Gulf Coast, prices closer to WTI. A wide Brent-over-WTI gap tends to show up as a bigger coastal premium on the regional diesel prices this site tracks. A narrow gap tends to bring the coasts and the interior closer together.
See the WTI crude oil price page for the US benchmark, and pump price vs crude oil for how either one converts into the retail number.