Methodology
How DollarsPerBarrel sources, refreshes, and calculates everything on the site.
Data source
All prices come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Open Data API, version 2. The EIA is the statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy and its data is in the public domain. This site requests data from the API on the server; it never scrapes EIA web pages.
Series used
| Series ID | Description | Frequency | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| RWTC | WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude oil spot price, Cushing, Oklahoma | Daily (trading days) | U.S. dollars per barrel |
| RBRTE | Europe Brent crude oil spot price | Daily (trading days) | U.S. dollars per barrel |
Update frequency
The EIA publishes daily spot prices on U.S. trading days, typically with a short lag. This site checks for new data roughly every hour. Every price on the site is labeled with its published data date, and the chart shows when the data was last checked. Weekends and market holidays have no new spot prices, so the latest published figure can be a few days old without anything being wrong.
Calculations
- 1 petroleum barrel = 42 U.S. gallons.
- Total market value = barrels × price per barrel.
- Equivalent gallons = barrels × 42.
- Price per gallon equivalent = price per barrel ÷ 42.
- Daily change = latest published price minus the previous published trading day, shown in dollars and percent.
Currency and rounding
All figures are U.S. dollars, formatted in U.S. conventions. Crude prices are displayed with two decimal places as published. The per-gallon equivalent is shown with three decimals for precision. Calculator outputs are estimates; rounding happens at display time, not inside the math.
Missing or revised data
Rows the EIA marks as unavailable, non-numeric values, and malformed records are discarded rather than shown as zeros. If the EIA API cannot be reached, the site shows a clear “data temporarily unavailable” notice instead of stale or placeholder numbers, and the calculators keep working with manually entered prices. The EIA can revise previously published figures; this site always reflects the current published series.
Published data, not real-time quotes
Spot prices published by the EIA are official reference figures, not streaming exchange quotations. Intraday futures and cash markets move continuously; the number here is the most recent published daily figure. For decisions that depend on up-to-the-minute market prices, consult a licensed data provider or exchange.