On Decemeber 5, 2022, the Brent crude oil price stood at 82.68 U.S. dollars per barrel, compared to 76.93 U.S. dollars for WTI oil and 83.16 for the OPEC basket. 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. In March 2022, oil prices soared to highs not seen since 2008 as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war. The decrease noted since August reflects market uncertainty over a looming global recession.

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 (whereby a contract is agreed upon, while the product delivery will follow in the next two to three months), market speculation is one of the principal determinants for oil prices. Traders make conclusion 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.