WTI and Brent crude oil's average annual spot prices 1990-2024
The average spot price for West Texas Intermediate crude oil came to 76.63 U.S. dollars per barrel in 2024, a decrease of nearly one U.S. dollars compared to the previous year. The 2024 average spot price for Brent crude oil was 80.52 U.S. dollars. Both Brent and WTI are light crude oils, with the first used as a benchmark for gasoline prices around the world.
Spot prices vs. future prices
Spot prices refer to current market prices under which a commodity such as one barrel of crude oil may be bought for immediate delivery. In contrast, future prices refer to settlement and delivery at a later date. As a major refinery and storage hub, Cushing in Oklahoma is the delivery location for WTI traded via the New York Mercantile Exchange. When storage capacities threatened to reach their maximum capacity in April 2020, the WTI oil price crashed as a result, trading at record low prices. The WTI oil price fell into negative numbers for the first time in its history, closing out at negative 37.63 U.S. dollars per barrel on April 20th. The lowest value for Brent prices was 19.33 U.S. dollars per barrel.
Influences on oil prices
Oil prices are volatile commodities as their trading and delivery is heavily influenced by overall market development and geopolitical events. For example, the Russia-Ukraine war and resulting Russian sanctions brought about fears of supply bottlenecks, which pushed oil prices to decade-highs also reflected in the 2022 annual average.
