5 minEconomy
Oil Trades at $102.75 a Barrel as Prices Climb Nearly 48% Year Over Year
Brent crude fell $1.92 from yesterday morning but remains about $33 higher than a year ago, with the benchmark up more than 10% over the past month.
Oil was priced at $102.75 per barrel Friday morning, with Brent crude serving as the global benchmark, according to market data. The figure represents a drop of $1.92 from the previous morning, when a barrel cost $104.67, a decline of about 1.83%.
The modest pullback does little to change a broader upward trend. Brent stood at $92.96 one month ago, meaning prices have climbed roughly 10.53% since then. Compared with a year ago, when a barrel fetched $69.48, the benchmark is up about 47.88%, or roughly $33.
Oil prices are notoriously difficult to forecast with precision because they respond to a wide range of forces, but supply and demand ultimately drive the market. When concerns about recession, war, or other large-scale disruptions intensify, the trajectory of oil can shift quickly. The current price reflects a market that has absorbed a year of significant gains.
For American consumers, the cost of crude is the largest single component of what they pay at the gas pump, though not the only one. Refining, transportation, federal and state taxes, and the markup added by individual stations all contribute to the per-gallon price. Because crude accounts for a majority of that total, changes in oil tend to have an outsized effect. When oil surges, pump prices typically follow. When oil retreats, gas prices often fall more slowly, a pattern sometimes called «rockets and feathers».
The federal government maintains the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a buffer against severe supply shocks. The reserve is intended primarily for energy security in emergencies such as sanctions, major storm damage, or war, but it can also soften crippling price spikes by releasing crude into the market. It is not a long-term solution and is designed to provide temporary relief while keeping critical sectors running, including key industries, emergency services, and public transportation.
Oil and natural gas prices are also linked. Because both are central to daily energy use, a large move in oil can spill over into natural gas. If oil becomes more expensive, some industries may switch to natural gas for parts of their operations where possible, lifting demand for gas in turn.
Brent is the main global benchmark and prices much of the world's traded crude, making it the preferred gauge for historical performance. West Texas Intermediate serves as the primary North American benchmark. The U.S. Energy Information Administration now uses Brent as its main reference in its Annual Energy Outlook.
Across recent decades, oil has been anything but steady. The early 1970s brought the first major shock when Middle Eastern producers cut exports and imposed an embargo during the Yom Kippur War. Prices fell in the mid-1980s amid lower demand and the entry of more non-OPEC producers. They spiked again in 2008 on rising global demand before collapsing with the financial crisis. During the 2020 pandemic lockdowns, demand collapsed and prices dropped below $20 a barrel.
Those episodes illustrate how wars, recessions, production decisions by OPEC and its allies, and shifting energy policies can all move the market. In the United States, prices can also respond to how friendly an administration is to drilling, since policy affects future supply. In 2025, the Trump administration moved to reopen more than 1.5 million acres in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas leasing, reversing the Biden administration's limits on Arctic drilling.
Domestic shale production plays a role as well. Shale is rock containing oil and natural gas, and the more of it the U.S. can access, the greater the available supply and the less prone prices are to sharp spikes.
When oil is expensive, it tends to raise the cost of everyday goods. That shows up directly in energy bills for heating and utilities, but also indirectly through logistics. Shipping becomes more costly, which can lift the price of groceries and other products as they move from warehouses and farms to store shelves.
Oil prices update constantly while futures markets are open. A futures market functions as an auction in which participants agree to buy or sell oil at a later date, and as long as contracts are trading, the quoted price keeps changing.
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