Benchmark
WTI Crude Oil
West Texas Intermediate is the primary U.S. crude-oil benchmark and one of the two most quoted oil prices in the world.
WTI Crude · latest available observation
$97.26per barrel
Observation date: Sep 9, 2026
Up: +$3.05 (+3.2%) vs. previous observation
Last 30 days of observations: from $83.76 on Aug 10, 2026 to $97.26.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration · Last data check Sep 15, 2026, 7:47 AM UTC
WTI is a light, sweet crude oil: low density and low sulfur content, which makes it relatively easy to refine into gasoline and diesel. Its benchmark price is set at Cushing, Oklahoma, a major pipeline crossroads and storage hub where U.S. crude changes hands.
When headlines say “oil rose today,” they usually mean WTI futures. The figure on this site is different and deliberately so: the EIA’s daily spot-price observation, released on the agency’s schedule: the standard reference for what physical WTI actually sold for on a given trading day.
WTI typically trades below Brent, the international benchmark. The gap between the two, the Brent–WTI spread, reflects transport costs from the U.S. interior, quality differences, and regional supply balances. The homepage snapshot shows the current published spread alongside both prices.