WTI Crude Oil Prices

WTI crude oil prices averaged USD 98.93 per barrel in October, up 1.8% from September. On 30 October, the commodity traded at USD 107.56 per barrel, up 17.3% from 30 September.

WTI prices topped Brent prices for the first time in nearly a decade in June, but have since traded at a discount that widened to USD 9.5 per barrel in October, on average, the widest since April 2020. Record tanker freight rates—with vessel shortages worsened by ship-to-ship transfers in the Strait of Hormuz to dodge Iran’s blockade—made U.S. crude less competitive abroad, particularly in Asia, weakening the export arbitrage that normally narrows the gap.