The price differential between Brent and WTI has widened sharply in the past few days, reaching levels not seen in over a decade as the Iran war has created a growing gap between international seaborne and domestic inland crude markets. As shown in the graph below, the spread spent most of the 2023–2025 period fluctuating in a relatively narrow $2–$5/bbl range before blasting higher in early 2026. As of Friday, the differential had increased to $13.96/bbl, marking the highest differential since the mid-2010s and underscoring the extent to which global supply risks have been concentrated in waterborne barrels priced off Brent.
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Crude Oil Price Analytics & Differentials
A report offered through the joint efforts of RBN and Link Data Services (LDS – a leading Gulf Coast physical crude brokerage firm) to help you better understand what’s going on each week with crude oil differentials.
