WTI vs Brent: reading crude oil prices

Two benchmarks with different market contexts

Crude oil varies by quality and location. A benchmark provides a reference for a defined market; it does not give the delivered cost of every crude grade everywhere.

The standard WTI futures contract is physically delivered at Cushing, Oklahoma. Brent futures use exchange-for-physical delivery with an option to cash settle against the Brent Index. Consult the specific contract rules when delivery or expiry matters.

Keep the distinction between a physical assessment, a futures quote and an index. “Brent” on its own is not a complete series identifier.

USD per barrel is a unit price

The standard WTI and Brent futures contracts each represent 1,000 barrels. Smaller and other related contracts also exist, so read the contract size from the instrument definition.

An illustrative price of USD 77 per barrel corresponds to USD 77,000 of notional value for a 1,000-barrel contract. It is not a quote of USD 77 for the whole contract, and notional value is separate from margin.

Barrels measure volume; tonnes measure mass. Converting between them needs the crude’s density and the conditions under which it was measured. A single barrel-to-tonne factor should not be applied to every crude grade.

The Commodity unit converter currently handles mass and user-defined container payloads. It does not convert oil barrels to mass.

• Benchmark and instrument: which WTI or Brent series?
• Period: cash assessment date or futures contract month?
• Price type and time: settlement, last trade, bid or ask at which timestamp?
• Unit and currency: dollars per barrel, with the contract size recorded separately.

Worked example: calculating the Brent–WTI spread

Suppose comparable observations for the same delivery month and time show Brent at USD 80 per barrel and WTI at USD 77. Define the spread as Brent minus WTI. The result is positive USD 3 per barrel.

If you also show a percentage, name the denominator. Relative to the WTI quote, 3 ÷ 77 × 100 is about 3.90%. These are illustrative examples, not current prices or a claim that Brent must trade above WTI.

Brent − WTI = 80 − 77 = 3 USD/barrel
Spread relative to WTI = 3 ÷ 77 × 100 ≈ 3.90%

Check the contract switch in a historical chart

A front-month chart eventually changes contracts. If a WTI chart and a Brent chart roll on different rules, subtracting them can mix delivery months even when both labels say “front month”.

Store the underlying contract identifiers and the selection rule. For a reproducible spread, choose the intended contract pair explicitly and compare observations with compatible timestamps. Preserve a missing observation instead of filling it with an unrelated month.

Request WTI and Brent reference prices

Narwhal returns WTI and Brent reference prices in USD per barrel. These prices are derived from futures markets, not physical spot cargo prices. Use WTI for WTI crude oil or BRENT for Brent crude oil. The response below is illustrative.

Both support price history at GET /v1/commodities/spot/{commodity}/USD/bars with the same intervals and rules as metals: minute bars are kept for 30 days, 15-minute and hourly bars start in 2020, and daily bars are available. Read timestamp and stale with the price.

GET /v1/commodities/spot/WTI/USD

{
  "symbol": "WTI-USD",
  "price": "90.9732",
  "currency": "USD",
  "unit": "barrel",
  "timestamp": "2026-10-08T18:41:00Z",
  "stale": false
}

Read prediction market odds for the daily close

Narwhal shows what prediction markets expect for WTI and Brent prices at a daily close, with a middle estimate and an 80% range. The odds are delayed by 15 minutes. These are market odds for a closing price, not a price feed.