The chart above shows the live Brent crude price in U.S. dollars per barrel. It plots the continuous front-month ICE Brent futures contract, which is the number quoted by Bloomberg, Reuters, brokers and most financial sites when they report "Brent." You can switch the interval from daily to intraday, draw on the chart, and compare symbols directly in the widget. For the site's main dashboard with WTI, the Brent/WTI spread and energy ETFs alongside, return to the Brent price homepage.
Where the Live Brent Price Comes From
There is no single "official" Brent tick. The live figure is the last traded price of the nearest-dated ICE Brent futures contract on ICE Futures Europe, streamed through market-data vendors. Each contract represents 1,000 barrels, is quoted in dollars and cents per barrel, and moves in one-cent ticks. When the front month approaches expiry, continuous charts roll to the next month, which can produce a small step in the series that is not a real price move — a detail explained in our guide to reading oil charts.
Separate from the futures is Dated Brent, the physical spot assessment published once a day by S&P Global Platts. Dated Brent is what refiners and producers actually reference in cargo contracts, but it is not a real-time number. If you are looking for a "Brent spot price today," the futures chart above is the live proxy; the physical assessment lags it and is published after the London market-on-close window.
When the Brent Price Moves
ICE Brent trades electronically for roughly 23 hours a day, five days a week, opening on Sunday evening London time and closing late Friday afternoon U.S. time, with a short daily maintenance break. In practice this means the live price is almost always changing while you watch it during the week, and it reacts to overnight news from Asia before European and American desks are at work. Liquidity is deepest during London and New York hours, which is when the biggest moves usually occur, and thinnest in the early Asian session.
Over a typical week the Brent quote is most sensitive to a handful of scheduled events: the EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report on Wednesday morning U.S. time, the American Petroleum Institute's preview on Tuesday evening, the Friday Baker Hughes rig count, monthly reports from OPEC and the IEA, and any OPEC+ production decision. Unscheduled moves come from geopolitics — above all disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz — as well as macro data, the U.S. dollar and equity-market risk appetite.
Why Different Sites Show Different Brent Prices
Search for the Brent price on several sites at the same moment and you will often see numbers that differ by a few cents or even a dollar. The usual reasons are:
- Delayed versus real-time feeds. Many free quotes are delayed by 10–20 minutes; the chart on this page updates as the data vendor streams it.
- Different contract months. One source may already have rolled to the next futures month while another still shows the expiring one. In a backwardated market the next month is cheaper, so the gap can be noticeable.
- Futures versus spot. Some pages quote Dated Brent or a CFD price rather than the futures contract.
- Settlement versus last trade. After the daily close, some sites show the official settlement price while others continue to show the last traded tick from the electronic session.
None of these differences indicates an error; they simply reflect which Brent instrument, and which moment, is being displayed.
Reading the Live Chart
A few habits make the live price more useful. First, note the trend on the daily chart before reacting to intraday swings — Brent can move one or two dollars in an hour on headlines and give it all back by the close. Second, watch the shape of the forward curve: whether the market is in backwardation or contango tells you whether prompt barrels are tight or plentiful, which no single price can. Third, compare Brent with WTI; a widening Brent/WTI spread often signals a shift in Atlantic-basin supply or U.S. export flows rather than a change in global demand.
For context on how today's level compares with past cycles — the 2008 peak, the 2020 collapse and the 2026 Hormuz shock — see the Brent price history. To understand what the benchmark itself is, start with what is Brent crude.
Live Brent Price FAQ
Is the Brent price on this page real time?
The chart streams data from the market-data vendor as it is received. Depending on the vendor's licensing for the ICE feed, the quote may be real-time or slightly delayed; the timestamp on the chart shows the last update.
What unit is the live Brent price in?
U.S. dollars per barrel. One barrel is 42 U.S. gallons, or about 159 litres. See oil price per barrel for how Brent, WTI and other benchmarks compare.
Why did the price jump at the same time as nothing happened?
Most often the continuous chart has rolled from the expiring futures month to the next one. Check whether the move coincides with the contract expiry date on the ICE calendar.
Where can I read what moved Brent today?
Our Brent crude oil news page is updated with the day's price drivers, and the blog carries longer analysis.
Continue Reading
- Brent Crude Price Today — the main dashboard with WTI, spreads and ETFs
- Oil Price per Barrel — Brent, WTI, Dubai and the OPEC basket compared
- ICE Brent Futures — the contract behind the live quote
- Dated Brent — the physical spot assessment
- Brent Price History — every major move since 1988