Crude Oil Price (WTI)
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil, priced at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub — the benchmark for US oil markets and the underlying for NYMEX crude futures. The series is the spot price in dollars per barrel, daily back to 1986, from the US Energy Information Administration.
WTI spot ($/barrel)
- YoY %
- 53.8%
Next release: Oct 15, 2026
Latest reading
As of October 6, 2026, WTI Crude (WTI spot ($/barrel)) stands at $96.24 — up from $96.13 the prior reading, 34% below the July 3, 2008 record of $145.31. The July 3, 2008 peak of $145.31 is the record before and after inflation: $221.68 in August 2026 dollars, which puts the latest reading ($96.24, October 6, 2026) 57% below it. Oil is the commodity with the widest macro reach: it sets gasoline and diesel prices, feeds headline CPI with a short lag, and moves the earnings of the energy sector (and the costs of everyone else). Sustained moves above ~$100 have historically acted as a tax on consumers; collapses (2008, 2014-16, 2020 — briefly negative on the futures) marked demand shocks or supply gluts. Read the level against the 200-day average for trend, and the YoY rate as the inflation-pipeline view. Series history runs from 1986 to present.
Sources, methodology & freshnessEIA via FRED (DCOILWTICO), daily, dollars per barrel, not seasonally adjusted · Daily, with every releaseData as of 2026-10-06 · Open ↓Close ↑
Full history
Price ($/barrel)
Year-over-year %
The annual change in the WTI price. Oil's YoY rate feeds directly into headline CPI energy and inflation expectations — the 2022 inflation shock and the 2015 and 2020 disinflations are all visible here.
Real price (August 2026 dollars)
The WTI spot price restated in August 2026 dollars, so every past reading buys the same basket as today. Each day takes the CPI of its month.
Deflated by CPI-U (BLS), matched by month; the latest months appear once CPI is published.
Methodology & data
WTI Crude is sourced from EIA via the Federal Reserve's FRED service (EIA via FRED (DCOILWTICO), daily, dollars per barrel, not seasonally adjusted). We pull the complete history, chart it on a daily basis, overlay SPY for context, and generate a dated plain-English reading from the latest release — with no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states.
Every reading is stamped with its release date. Latest observation 2026-10-06; site refreshed 2026-10-13. Maintained and reviewed by Yuriy Matso; see our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Crude Oil Price (WTI)?
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil, priced at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub — the benchmark for US oil markets and the underlying for NYMEX crude futures. The series is the spot price in dollars per barrel, daily back to 1986, from the US Energy Information Administration.
How do you read WTI Crude?
Oil is the commodity with the widest macro reach: it sets gasoline and diesel prices, feeds headline CPI with a short lag, and moves the earnings of the energy sector (and the costs of everyone else). Sustained moves above ~$100 have historically acted as a tax on consumers; collapses (2008, 2014-16, 2020 — briefly negative on the futures) marked demand shocks or supply gluts. Read the level against the 200-day average for trend, and the YoY rate as the inflation-pipeline view.
Where does the WTI Crude data come from?
EIA via FRED (DCOILWTICO), daily, dollars per barrel, not seasonally adjusted. We chart the full history and publish a dated, plain-English reading with every release; the raw series is downloadable as CSV at /data/indicators/oil-price.csv.
How often is WTI Crude updated?
WTI Crude is a daily series from EIA, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts to FRED.
WTI spot ($/barrel)
- YoY %
- 53.8%
Next release: Oct 15, 2026