WTI rose faster than Brent this week. WTI closed Friday at $99.04, 7.8% higher than the previous Friday, while Brent closed at $109.69, up 4.8%. As a result the Brent–WTI spread, the amount by which Brent trades above WTI, narrowed to $10.65 from $12.87 a week earlier.
Looking over the last eight sessions of closes in our data, the spread has ranged from about $8 to about $13 a barrel. WTI is up 12.2% since 7 October, when it closed at $88.28; Brent is up 9.5% over the same period from $100.20.
Why the spread moves
Brent is a seaborne benchmark and reacts quickly to disruption in global shipping and in Middle East and Russian supply. WTI is priced inland at Cushing, Oklahoma, and is more influenced by US inventories and export capacity. When US stocks tighten or US exports rise, WTI can catch up with Brent and the gap narrows.
OilPrice.com reported this week that US rig counts were unchanged at 603 and that the US government is putting more Strategic Petroleum Reserve barrels on offer. Those are US-specific factors that can affect WTI more directly. We do not claim they caused this week’s move.
You can follow the spread over time on our markets page, and read how the two benchmarks differ in our WTI vs Brent guide.