The live quote above is the oil price per barrel today: WTI crude, the US benchmark, in US dollars for one 42-gallon barrel. Brent, the international benchmark, runs alongside it in the ticker. Both update in real time while the market is open, so the number you see is the current price of a barrel of oil rather than yesterday's close.
Below, what that per-barrel figure actually measures, why the same barrel is worth different amounts in different places, and why a cheap barrel does not translate directly into cheap gasoline.
How Many Gallons Are in a Barrel of Oil?
A barrel of oil is 42 US gallons — about 159 litres, or roughly 35 imperial gallons. The standard comes from the Pennsylvania oil fields of the 1860s, where 42-gallon wooden barrels became the accepted trading unit and simply never changed. Every crude price you see quoted, from NYMEX futures to EIA statistics, uses this unit.
Useful conversions when a per-barrel price is all you have:
| Unit | Equivalent | Converting from a barrel price |
|---|---|---|
| 1 barrel | 42 US gallons / 158.99 litres | The quoted unit |
| Price per US gallon of crude | — | Divide the barrel price by 42 |
| Price per litre of crude | — | Divide the barrel price by 159 |
| 1 metric tonne of crude | Roughly 7.33 barrels (varies with density) | Multiply the barrel price by about 7.33 |
Note that these convert the price of crude, not of finished fuel. A gallon of crude and a gallon of gasoline are very different products.
Which Barrel Price Are You Looking At?
Several per-barrel quotes circulate at the same time, which is why two sites can show different numbers on the same afternoon:
WTI (West Texas Intermediate) is the US benchmark, delivered at Cushing, Oklahoma. It is the number quoted when American news reports "the price of oil." Track it on the live USOIL chart.
Brent is the North Sea benchmark used to price most internationally traded crude. It usually sits a few dollars above WTI; the gap is the WTI–Brent spread, and it reflects the cost of moving US barrels overseas.
The OPEC Basket is a weighted average of member countries' export grades — a slower-moving reference, not a traded price.
First purchase prices are what US producers actually received, published monthly by the EIA. These sit below the benchmark because they include transport and quality adjustments at the wellhead.
All four are quoted per barrel, and all four can differ by several dollars at the same moment. Our page on live crude oil prices shows the main benchmarks side by side.
Why the Same Barrel Is Worth Different Amounts
Two barrels pumped on the same day can fetch prices several dollars apart. Three things explain nearly all of it:
Quality. Light, sweet crude — high API gravity, low sulfur — is cheaper to refine into gasoline and diesel, so it commands a premium. Heavy or sour barrels sell at a discount because refiners spend more to process them.
Location. A barrel is worth most where it can reach a refinery or export terminal cheaply. Gulf Coast crude sits next to the largest refining complex in the world; a barrel in landlocked North Dakota pays pipeline or rail tariffs to get there, and that cost comes straight out of the local price.
Timing. Futures for delivery in different months trade at different prices. When later months cost more than the front month (contango), storage is being rewarded; when they cost less (backwardation), the market is signalling near-term tightness.
The state-by-state effect of quality and location is set out in our guide to US oil prices by state.
What a Barrel of Oil Becomes
Refining one 42-gallon barrel of crude yields slightly more than 42 gallons of product — the process adds volume. In a typical US refinery run, roughly 19 to 20 gallons come out as motor gasoline, about 11 to 12 gallons as distillate fuel oil (diesel and heating oil), around 4 gallons as jet fuel, and the remainder as petrochemical feedstocks, asphalt, lubricants, liquefied petroleum gases and other products. The exact split shifts seasonally as refiners tilt toward gasoline in summer and distillate in winter.
Why Cheap Oil Does Not Mean Cheap Gasoline
Crude is the largest single component of a US pump price, but it is not the only one. Refining margins, distribution and marketing costs, and federal and state fuel taxes are layered on top, and each moves on its own schedule. Taxes in particular are fixed cents-per-gallon amounts in most states, so they do not fall when crude does.
The practical result: a sustained drop in the barrel price shows up at the pump gradually and only in part, and refinery outages or seasonal blend changes can push gasoline higher even while crude is falling.
Oil Price Per Barrel FAQ
How much is a barrel of oil right now?
The live WTI quote at the top of this page is the current US price per barrel in US dollars, updating in real time during market hours. Brent, the international benchmark, is shown alongside it.
Why is oil priced in barrels rather than litres or tonnes?
Convention. The 42-gallon barrel became the standard trading unit in the 1860s, and futures contracts, statistics and long-run price histories have all been built on it since. Elsewhere in the world crude volumes are sometimes reported in tonnes, at roughly 7.33 barrels per tonne.
How much oil is in a barrel after refining?
Refining 42 gallons of crude produces a little over 42 gallons of finished products, because the process increases total volume. Gasoline is the largest single output in a US refinery.
Does the price per barrel include transport?
Benchmark prices are quoted at a specific delivery point — WTI at Cushing, Brent in the North Sea — so they include the cost of getting the barrel to that point, but not beyond it. That is why wellhead prices in distant producing regions sit below the benchmark.
Disclaimer: This page is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Market data is provided by TradingView and may be delayed on some feeds.