The 2025 annual OPEC basket price stood at ***** U.S. dollars per barrel as of July. This would be lower than the 2024 average, which amounted to ***** U.S. dollars. The abbreviation OPEC stands for Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and includes Algeria, Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and the United Arab Emirates. The aim of the OPEC is to coordinate the oil policies of its member states. It was founded in 1960 in Baghdad, Iraq. The OPEC Reference Basket The OPEC crude oil price is defined by the price of the so-called OPEC (Reference) basket. This basket is an average of prices of the various petroleum blends that are produced by the OPEC members. Some of these oil blends are, for example: Saharan Blend from Algeria, Basra Light from Iraq, Arab Light from Saudi Arabia, BCF 17 from Venezuela, et cetera. By increasing and decreasing its oil production, OPEC tries to keep the price between a given maxima and minima. Benchmark crude oil The OPEC basket is one of the most important benchmarks for crude oil prices worldwide. Other significant benchmarks are UK Brent, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), and Dubai Crude (Fateh). Because there are many types and grades of oil, such benchmarks are indispensable for referencing them on the global oil market. The 2025 fall in prices was the result of weakened demand outlooks exacerbated by extensive U.S. trade tariffs.

Crude Oil fell to 64.01 USD/Bbl on August 29, 2025, down 0.91% from the previous day. Over the past month, Crude Oil's price has fallen 8.56%, and is down 12.97% compared to the same time last year, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Crude Oil - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on August of 2025.

On August 18, 2025, the Brent crude oil price stood at 66.54 U.S. dollars per barrel, compared to 63.42 U.S. dollars for WTI oil and 68.21 U.S. dollars for the OPEC basket. Oil prices remained largely unchanged that week as economic expectations stayed low.Europe's Brent crude oil, the U.S. WTI crude oil, and OPEC's basket are three of the most important benchmarks used by traders as reference for oil and gasoline prices. Lowest ever oil prices during coronavirus pandemic In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic resulted in crude oil prices hitting a major slump as oil demand drastically declined following lockdowns and travel restrictions. Initial outlooks and uncertainty surrounding the course of the pandemic brought about a disagreement between two of the largest oil producers, Russia and Saudi Arabia, in early March. Bilateral talks between global oil producers ended in agreement on April 13th, with promises to cut petroleum output and hopes rising that these might help stabilize the oil price in the coming weeks. However, with storage facilities and oil tankers quickly filling up, fears grew over where to store excess oil, leading to benchmark prices seeing record negative prices between April 20 and April 22, 2020. How crude oil prices are determined As with most commodities, crude oil prices are impacted by supply and demand, as well as inventories and market sentiment. However, as oil is most often traded in future contracts (where a contract is agreed upon while product delivery will follow in the next two to three months), market speculation is one of the principal determinants for oil prices. Traders make conclusions on how production output and consumer demand will likely develop over the coming months, leaving room for uncertainty. Spot prices differ from futures in so far as they reflect the current market price of a commodity.

Oil-dependent nations face financial strain as crude prices drop. Learn how countries are adapting to economic challenges with policy changes and fiscal adjustments.

Oil shocks exert influence on macroeconomic activity through various channels, many of which imply a symmetric effect. However, the effect can also be asymmetric. In particular, sharp oil price changes "either increases or decreases" may reduce aggregate output temporarily because they delay business investment by raising uncertainty or induce costly sectoral resource reallocation. Consistent with these asymmetric-effect hypotheses, the authors find that a volatility measure constructed using daily crude oil futures prices has a negative and significant effect on future gross domestic product (GDP) growth over the period 1984-2004. Moreover, the effect becomes more significant after oil price changes are also included in the regression to control for the symmetric effect. The evidence here provides economic rationales for Hamilton's (2003) nonlinear oil shock measure: It captures overall effects, both symmetric and asymmetric, of oil price shocks on output.

Between 2002 and 2024, prices of OPEC Reference Basket oils fluctuated dramatically. For example, Saharan Blend from Algeria stood at some ** U.S. dollars per barrel in 2002. Ten years later, this figure had increased to more than *** U.S. dollars. In 2024, it stood at ***** U.S. dollars. Oil prices: a rollercoaster ride Oil prices are inherently volatile due to the speculative nature of their price determination. Thus, sudden economic and geopolitical events may have big influences on pricing. For example, some of the major factors behind price fluctuation since the 2000s have been the global financial crisis in 2008, the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, and the energy supply crisis and subsequent Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. As a result, the OPEC basket price has oscillated between lows of ** U.S. dollars and highs of *** U.S. dollars. Shale oil overproduction leads to 2010 oil glut The 2010s price crash was caused in part by ever-growing production of domestic shale and tight oil in the United States. Though nearly ** percent of global oil reserves can be found in OPEC countries, the United States has become the largest producer of oil worldwide in the last ten years.

Brent rose to 68.10 USD/Bbl on September 1, 2025, up 0.92% from the previous day. Over the past month, Brent's price has fallen 0.95%, and is down 11.87% compared to the same time last year, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Brent crude oil - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on September of 2025.

Oil prices drop amid uncertainties in US-Iran nuclear talks, impacting Brent crude and WTI. Market anticipates surplus despite volatility and demand growth.

On April 20th, 2020, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil slumped into negative for the first time in history, falling to negative 37.63 U.S. dollars per barrel. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has had a catastrophic impact on the global oil and gas industry. Declining consumer demand and high levels of production output are threatening to exceed oil storage capacities, which resulted in the lowest ever oil prices noted between April 20th and April 22nd.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Fact and Figures page.

Nigeria's economy was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Among others, oil prices experienced a sharp fall and the country lowered the daily crude oil production consistently. In January 2019, the price per barrel amounted to ** U.S. dollars per barrel, whereas in April 2020 the price dropped by ** dollars. Crude oil, petrol, and fuel represented Nigeria's main source of export value.

In May 2023, the price of Crude Palm Oil reached $1,074 per ton (CIF, United Kingdom), showing a decrease of -3.3% compared to the previous month.

Shocks to the real price of oil may reflect oil supply shocks, shocks to the global demand for all industrial commodities, or demand shocks that are specific to the crude oil market. Each shock has different effects on the real price of oil and on US macroeconomic aggregates. Changes in the composition of shocks help explain why regressions of macroeconomic aggregates on oil prices tend to be unstable. Evidence that the recent surge in oil prices was driven primarily by global demand shocks helps explain why this shock so far has failed to cause a major recession in the United States. (JEL E31, E32, Q41, Q43)

Heating Oil fell to 2.27 USD/Gal on August 29, 2025, down 1.78% from the previous day. Over the past month, Heating Oil's price has fallen 5.80%, and is down 0.65% compared to the same time last year, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Heating oil - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on August of 2025.

In May 2025, the average monthly price of the Urals crude oil, Russia's major export oil brand, was approximately ***** U.S. dollars per barrel, having decreased from the previous month. In 2020, the price of the Urals experienced a considerable decrease at the beginning of the year due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, dropping to as low as **** U.S. dollars per barrel in April. What is the purpose of the Russian oil price cap? In early December 2022, the G7 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom (UK), and the United States), the European Union (EU), and Australia formed the Price Cap Coalition and imposed a price cap of 60 U.S. dollars per barrel on oil originating in Russia. The aim of the price ceiling is to decrease Russia’s earnings from oil exports and thereby limit the Russian government’s budget to finance the war in Ukraine. At the same time, the cap is meant to ensure that Russia continues to supply oil to emerging economies, though at a discounted price. With the cap in place, Russia cannot sell oil at a higher price even to third countries if the oil tankers are financed or insured by members of the Price Cap Coalition. In early February 2023, a price cap of 100 U.S. dollars per barrel was imposed on Russian refined oil products. Global dependence on Russian oil China was Russia’s leading crude oil export destination, with the value of exports measured at nearly **** billion U.S. dollars in 2021. In physical terms, Russia supplied around *** million metric tons of crude oil to China in 2024, being the leading crude oil import origin in the country ahead of Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, European countries were major consumers of Russian oil prior to the war in Ukraine. For instance, Russia accounted for over ** percent of oil and petroleum products imported into Slovakia in 2020. To compare, the dependence rate stood at nearly ** percent in Lithuania, ** percent in Germany, and ** percent in the UK.

Graph and download economic data for Crude Oil Prices: Brent - Europe (DCOILBRENTEU) from 1987-05-20 to 2025-07-21 about crude, oil, Europe, commodities, and price.

The author argues that the economic benefits of low gasoline prices for the U.S. economy have fallen substantially since the reemergence of America as a major oil producer. The old rule-of thumb that a 10% fall in the oil price raises inflation-adjusted U.S. GDP by 0.2% is too large—the impact on economic activity should be closer to zero, and may even be negative if consumption grows slowly. The reasons for this change are straightforward, if underappreciated: (i) the value of oil production accounts for a larger share of the U.S. economy; and (ii) consumers are not spending the windfall like they used to because of higher debt levels, limited access to credit, slow wage rowth, and an older population.

Brent crude oil is projected to have an average annual spot price of 65.85 U.S. dollars per barrel in 2025, according to a forecast from May 2025. This would mean a decrease of nearly 15 U.S. dollars compared to the previous year, and also reflects a reduced forecast WTI crude oil price. Lower economic activity, an increase in OPEC+ production output, and uncertainty over trade tariffs all impacted price forecasting. All about Brent Also known as Brent Blend, London Brent, and Brent petroleum, Brent Crude is a crude oil benchmark named after the exploration site in the North Sea's Brent oilfield. It is a sweet light crude oil but slightly heavier than West Texas Intermediate. In this context, sweet refers to a low sulfur content and light refers to a relatively low density when compared to other crude oil benchmarks. Price development in the 2020s Oil prices are volatile, impacted by consumer demand and discoveries of new oilfields, new extraction methods such as fracking, and production caps routinely placed by OPEC on its member states. The price for Brent crude oil stood at an average of just 42 U.S. dollars in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic resulted in a sudden demand drop. Two years later, sanctions on Russian energy imports, had pushed up prices to a new decade-high, above 100 U.S. dollars per barrel.

Abstract of associated article: Previous studies of the relationship between crude oil and gasoline prices have often found “rockets and feathers” behavior: a scenario where gasoline prices increase more rapidly when crude oil prices rise than they fall when crude oil prices drop. While we find this behavior in times of generally rising crude oil prices, we find the opposite to be true during times of generally falling crude oil prices, a phenomenon we call “balloons and rocks” behavior. This result was obtained by testing for parameter stability in error-correction models which were estimated for periods of significant variability in both crude oil and gasoline prices. The data used to estimate these results is unique in the literature as it is comprised of daily U.S. retail gasoline prices and daily crude oil prices. The sample was taken during the Great Recession, an exceptional period of time that saw both sharp increases and decreases in gasoline and crude oil prices.

Goldman Sachs highlights risks of Brent crude falling below $40 amid trade tensions and increased OPEC+ production.

Urals Oil rose to 62.89 USD/Bbl on August 29, 2025, up 1.08% from the previous day. Over the past month, Urals Oil's price has fallen 8.38%, and is down 15.11% compared to the same time last year, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for Urals Crude.