On January 3, 2022, the OPEC basket stood at 78 U.S. dollars per barrel, compared to 78.98 U.S. dollars for Brent oil and 76.08 U.S. dollars for WTI oil. Europe's Brent crude oil, the U.S. WTI crude oil, and OPEC's reference basket are three of the most important benchmarks used by traders as reference for oil and gasoline prices. In October and November 2021, oil prices traded upwards of 80 U.S. dollars again after dwindling natural gas supplies in Europe threatened an energy crisis and low OPEC production prospects resulted in crude oil prices being carried to highs not seen since 2014. However, by the end of November, a surge in coronavirus infections and the emergence of a new variant briefly dampened outlooks by market traders.
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.
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.
Weekly Brent, OPEC basket, and WTI crude oil prices from December 30, 2019 to January 3, 2022
(in U.S. dollars per barrel)
Characteristic
OPEC basket
Brent
WTI
Jan 3
78
78.98
76.08
Dec 27
75.63
78.6
75.57
Dec 20
70.94
71.52
68.23
Dec 13
75.04
74.39
71.29
Dec 6
71.41
73.08
69.49
Nov 29
74.2
73.44
69.95
Nov 22
78.9
79.7
76.75
Nov 15
80.9
82.05
80.88
Nov 8
82.34
83.43
81.93
Nov 1
82.49
84.71
84.05
Oct 25
84.66
85.99
83.76
Oct 18
84.04
84.33
82.44
Oct 11
82.53
83.65
80.52
Oct 4
78.26
81.26
77.62
Sep 27
77.73
79.53
75.45
Sep 20
73.47
73.92
70.29
Sep 13
72.77
73.51
70.45
Sep 7
71.34
71.69
68.35
Aug 30
71.88
73.41
69.21
Aug 23
67.33
68.75
65.64
Aug 16
69.65
69.51
67.29
Aug 9
70.66
69.04
66.48
Aug 2
73.89
72.89
71.26
Jul 26
72.68
74.5
71.91
Jul 19
70.54
68.62
66.42
Jul 12
74.33
75.16
74.1
July 6
75.94
74.53
73.37
Jun 28
73.84
74.68
72.91
Jun 21
72.45
74.9
73.66
Jun 14
71.99
72.86
70.88
Jun 7
70.15
71.49
69.23
June 1
69.03
70.25
67.72
May 24
66.93
68.46
66.05
May 17
67.52
69.46
66.27
May 10
67.1
68.32
64.92
May 3
65.09
67.56
64.49
Apr 26
63.22
65.65
61.91
Apr 19
65.1
67.05
63.38
Apr 12
61.44
63.28
59.7
Apr 5
61.68
62.15
58.65
Mar 29
62.86
64.98
61.56
Mar 22
63.22
64.62
61.55
Mar 15
68.18
68.88
63.39
Mar 8
68.17
68.24
65.05
Mar 1
64.21
63.69
60.64
Feb 22
62.01
65.24
61.49
Feb 16
62.49
63.35
60.05
Feb 8
59.58
60.56
57.97
Feb 1
55.13
56.35
52.77
Jan 25
54.85
55.88
53.55
Jan 19
54.85
55.9
52.98
Jan 11
54.76
55.66
52.25
Jan 4
51.35
51.09
47.62
Dec 28
50.1
50.86
47.62
Dec 21
49.57
50.91
47.74
Dec 14
49.65
50.29
46.99
Dec 7
47.77
48.79
45.76
Nov 30
46.43
47.59
45.34
Nov 23
44.75
46.06
43.06
Nov 16
42.93
43.62
41.34
Nov 9
39.97
42.4
40.29
Nov 2
35.89
38.97
36.81
Oct 26
39.22
40.46
38.56
Oct 19
41.38
42.62
40.83
Oct 12
40.57
41.72
39.43
Oct 5
39.08
41.29
39.22
Sep 28
41.61
42.43
40.57
Sep 21
41.49
41.44
39.31
Sep 14
38.96
39.61
37.26
Sep 8
40.29
39.78
36.76
Aug 31
46.27
42.61
45.28
Aug 24
45.19
45.13
42.62
Aug 17
44.94
45.37
42.89
Aug 10
45.01
44.99
41.94
Aug 3
44.02
44.15
41.01
Jul 27
43.14
43.41
41.6
Jul 20
43.03
43.28
40.81
Jul 13
43.38
42.72
40.1
Jul 6
43.57
43.1
40.63
Jun 29
37.34
41.71
39.7
Jun 22
38.96
43.08
40.46
Jun 15
35.09
39.72
37.12
Jun 8
38.89
40.8
38.19
Jun 1
33.68
38.32
35.44
May 26
29.75
35.53
34.35
May 18
28.21
34.81
31.82
May 11
22.71
29.63
24.14
May 4
18.36
27.2
20.39
Apr 28
12.41
20.46
14.22
Apr 20
14.19
25.57
-37.63
Apr 14
19.7
29.6
20.13
Apr 7
22.67
31.87
23.63
Mar 30
21.66
22.76
20.09
Mar 24
26.53
27.15
24.01
Mar 16
30.63
30.05
28.7
Mar 10
35.73
37.22
34.36
Mar 6
48.33
45.27
41.28
Mar 2
51.65
51.9
46.75
Feb 24
56.11
56.3
51.43
Feb 18
56.68
57.75
52.02
Feb 10
54.17
53.27
49.57
Feb 3
55.49
54.45
50.11
Jan 27
61.98
59.32
53.14
Jan 21
65.26
64.59
58.34
Jan 13
66.07
64.2
58.08
Jan 6
70.87
68.91
63.27
Dec 30
68.89
68.44
61.68
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This statistic was assembled from two different sources. Data for Brent and WTI prices were taken from Bloomberg, whereas OPEC basket prices may be found here.
Figures do not provide a weekly average, but rather the daily price at the beginning of each trading week.
Whenever a public holidays fell on a Monday, Tuesday prices were considered for all benchmarks for consistency.
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OPEC, & Bloomberg. (January 4, 2022). Weekly Brent, OPEC basket, and WTI crude oil prices from December 30, 2019 to January 3, 2022 (in U.S. dollars per barrel) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved January 17, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/326017/weekly-crude-oil-prices/
OPEC, und Bloomberg. "Weekly Brent, OPEC basket, and WTI crude oil prices from December 30, 2019 to January 3, 2022 (in U.S. dollars per barrel)." Chart. January 4, 2022. Statista. Accessed January 17, 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/326017/weekly-crude-oil-prices/
OPEC, Bloomberg. (2022). Weekly Brent, OPEC basket, and WTI crude oil prices from December 30, 2019 to January 3, 2022 (in U.S. dollars per barrel). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: January 17, 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/326017/weekly-crude-oil-prices/
OPEC, and Bloomberg. "Weekly Brent, Opec Basket, and Wti Crude Oil Prices from December 30, 2019 to January 3, 2022 (in U.S. Dollars per Barrel)." Statista, Statista Inc., 4 Jan 2022, https://www.statista.com/statistics/326017/weekly-crude-oil-prices/
OPEC & Bloomberg, Weekly Brent, OPEC basket, and WTI crude oil prices from December 30, 2019 to January 3, 2022 (in U.S. dollars per barrel) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/326017/weekly-crude-oil-prices/ (last visited January 17, 2022)
