Published 2026-10-19 · 6 min read · WTI crude
WTI is the US oil benchmark, deliverable in a small Oklahoma town called Cushing. Understanding that inland hub explains why WTI and global prices often move apart.
West Texas Intermediate, WTI for short. The name says Texas, but today it describes a specification: light enough and low enough in sulphur that refiners can process it profitably. Crude meeting that spec comes mainly from the Permian Basin and the mid-continent. Think of it as a standard rather than a single oilfield and the rest of the logic follows.
A futures contract needs a physical delivery point. Cushing, Oklahoma sits where dozens of pipelines converge and holds some of the largest crude storage capacity in the country. Oil can flow in from every direction and out again to refineries across the continent. That “pipeline crossroads” position made Cushing the natural pricing point for inland US crude, and that is where the WTI contract settles.
The design has a price: oil at Cushing can only leave by pipeline. Pipelines have a ceiling, and once they approach it, surplus crude has nowhere to go and simply accumulates in tanks. Sellers then have no option but to discount heavily to get anyone to lift it, and the local Cushing price falls below the seaborne international market. Brent sits at a seaport and can load onto a tanker at any time — it has no such problem. That is the origin of the gap between the two benchmarks.
The US Energy Information Administration publishes Cushing stock levels every week. The number matters because it shows directly how tight tank capacity is. Rising stocks mean crude is piling up and prices come under pressure; falling stocks mean barrels are moving to refineries and prices find support. Many traders treat this weekly report as the most important crude data point of the week.
When the United States lifted its four-decade ban on crude exports in late 2015, it was a watershed for WTI. Export terminals along the Gulf Coast expanded and American crude began loading onto ships for Europe and Asia. For the first time WTI was genuinely connected to the seaborne global market, and its long-standing divergence from Brent changed. Once again, the root cause of the price gap lies in logistics, not in quality.
First, WTI is a crude price, not a pump price: retail petrol additionally carries refining, distribution and tax. Second, it reflects supply and demand in the US interior, which does not move in perfect step with the global seaborne market. Third, WTI alone is easy to misread — set it against Brent and the spread itself becomes useful information. This site lists both so the comparison is immediate.
Two light sweet crudes, two different prices — and the gap is not an error. It is a running read on pipelines, exports and how freely oil can move around the world.
Crude oilRoughly two thirds of internationally traded crude is priced off Brent. Here is how a North Sea blend came to define what "the oil price" means.
Brent crude and gold prices are sourced from public market data providers (OilPriceAPI, MetalpriceAPI). China retail fuel prices come from ShowAPI. Rates are collected on a daily schedule and cached on a global edge network.
The prices and rates shown here are reference figures for general information only. They are not exchange settlement prices and must not be used for trading, settlement, accounting or any investment decision. Figures may be delayed and may differ from those quoted by your bank, broker or local retailer.