Commodities
Brent crude oil price chart
Brent crude is the leading international benchmark for seaborne, light sweet crude oil, used to price roughly two-thirds of the world's internationally traded crude. The chart tracks its US dollar price per barrel.
The chart displays a CFD (contract for difference) that tracks the Brent crude market, not an ICE Brent futures contract itself. It is a derivative designed to follow the underlying price with its own margining and rollover treatment.
Brent crude oil chart
TVC:UKOILCFD on Brent crude oil.
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At a glance
| Full name | Brent crude oil |
|---|---|
| Common ticker | UKOIL / BRENT |
| TradingView symbol | TVC:UKOIL |
| Instrument type shown | CFD tracking Brent crude |
| Underlying market / benchmark | ICE Brent Crude futures, administered by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), based on North Sea production streams |
| Quotation unit | US dollars per barrel (42 US gallons) |
| Market schedule | Trades close to 24 hours a day, five days a week, with a short daily break |
| Spot vs futures vs CFD | The exchange-listed instrument is a futures contract with a nearby delivery month; the CFD shown here tracks that futures price on a continuous basis |
| Contract month / rollover | The underlying ICE Brent futures contract expires monthly; continuous CFD or futures charts typically roll to the next active month before expiry, which can create small price adjustments |
| Data delay | Real-time streaming price from the data provider |
What is Brent crude oil?
Brent is a blend of crude oil produced from fields in the North Sea, historically named after the Brent oilfield. It is a light, sweet (low-sulphur) crude that is easy to refine into petrol and diesel, and it is loaded onto tankers, making it a genuinely seaborne, internationally traded benchmark.
Its price is set through trading of ICE Brent futures contracts and related physical and derivative markets in London. Because it is waterborne, Brent-priced cargoes can move relatively freely between regions, which is why it underpins pricing for crude from the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere, not just the North Sea itself.
How to read this chart
A rising Brent price typically reflects tighter global oil supply relative to demand, whether from OPEC+ output decisions, supply disruptions, or stronger demand expectations; a falling price implies looser balances or weaker demand expectations.
Because the underlying instrument is a futures contract with a monthly expiry, continuous charts must roll from one contract month to the next; this can introduce small jumps or require an adjusted, back-adjusted series. The CFD shown here is designed to track that rolling futures price rather than a fixed delivery date.
Spot and futures prices for the same commodity can differ due to storage costs, financing costs and the convenience yield of holding physical barrels: futures priced above spot is called contango, and futures priced below spot is called backwardation. These conditions also affect the shape of the futures curve used to construct continuous price series.
What moves it?
- OPEC+ production policy
- Decisions by OPEC and allied producers to raise, cut or hold output quotas directly affect the volume of crude reaching the seaborne market and are among the most closely watched Brent drivers.
- Seaborne supply flows
- Because Brent-linked crude moves by tanker, shipping availability, tanker rates and loading schedules from the North Sea and other exporting regions feed into short-term price moves.
- Geopolitics
- Conflict or sanctions affecting major oil-exporting regions, and disruptions to shipping routes such as chokepoints used by tankers, can move Brent sharply given its role as the reference price for globally traded crude.
- European and Asian refining demand
- Refinery run rates and seasonal demand for transport and heating fuels in Europe and Asia, the main users of Brent-linked crude, influence the physical premium or discount to the futures benchmark.
Why businesses and investors monitor it
Businesses with fuel-intensive operations, freight costs, or petrochemical inputs use Brent as a reference point for budgeting and for indexation clauses in supply and transport contracts.
Because Brent underpins pricing for the majority of internationally traded crude, energy buyers and finance teams monitor it as a leading indicator of global energy cost trends, distinct from region-specific benchmarks such as WTI.
Brent vs WTI crude oil
Brent and WTI (West Texas Intermediate) are the two most widely referenced crude oil benchmarks, but they represent different physical markets. Brent is a seaborne, light sweet crude loaded onto tankers in the North Sea, giving it direct exposure to international shipping and global supply and demand.
WTI is a landlocked US grade priced for delivery at Cushing, Oklahoma, a pipeline and storage hub. The Brent-WTI spread reflects US pipeline and export infrastructure, US shale production levels, and freight costs to move US crude to international markets; it has narrowed since the US lifted restrictions on crude oil exports.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Brent called an international benchmark?
Because it is a seaborne crude that can move relatively freely by tanker, its price is used as a reference for pricing crude from many other regions, not just the North Sea.
Does the chart track a specific delivery date?
No. It tracks the near-month ICE Brent futures price on a rolling basis, which is standard practice for continuous commodity charts.
Why do Brent and WTI prices differ?
They reflect different physical markets — a seaborne North Sea blend versus a landlocked US grade at Cushing, Oklahoma — so freight costs, regional supply and export infrastructure drive a spread between them.
What is contango in oil markets?
Contango is when futures prices for later delivery months are higher than the near-month or spot price, often reflecting storage and financing costs or expectations of future supply tightness.
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Sources
Written and maintained by the StandardsDesk editorial team. Last reviewed 2026-08-06. The explanatory text on this page is evergreen: it is not updated with market movements, and no current price or level is quoted anywhere outside the chart.
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