Brent Crude
The international benchmark for light, sweet crude, drawn from North Sea fields and traded as the ICE BZ contract. Roughly two-thirds of the world's internationally traded crude is priced off Brent. See it live →
Benchmark Crude
A widely traded reference grade against which other crudes are priced at a premium or discount. The big three are WTI (Americas), Brent (Europe/Africa) and Dubai/Oman (Asian imports of Middle Eastern crude). See it live →
Sweet vs. Sour Crude
Sulfur content. Sweet crude has under ~0.5% sulfur and is cheaper to refine into gasoline and diesel; sour crude (over ~1%) needs more processing and typically trades at a discount.
Light vs. Heavy Crude / API Gravity
Density, measured in degrees API — higher numbers are lighter. Light crude (API > 31°) yields more high-value products per barrel. WTI is about 40° API; Canadian oil-sands bitumen can be under 10°. See it live →
Front-Month Contract
The futures contract closest to delivery — the price quoted as "the oil price" in headlines. As each contract expires, quotes roll to the next month, which can create small jumps unrelated to supply or demand. See it live →
Forward Curve / Term Structure
Prices for each future delivery month plotted in a line. Its shape — contango or backwardation — is one of the market's clearest signals of physical tightness. See it live →
Contango
A forward curve where later months cost more than the front month. It signals comfortable prompt supply, and when the gap exceeds storage costs, traders can buy spot, store, and sell forward at a profit ("cash and carry"). See it live →
Backwardation
A forward curve where the front month is the most expensive. It signals tight prompt supply — buyers pay a premium for barrels now — and is generally read as bullish. See it live →
3:2:1 Crack Spread
The classic proxy for US refining margin: the value of 2 barrels of gasoline plus 1 barrel of distillate, minus 3 barrels of crude, divided by 3 and expressed in $/bbl. Wider cracks mean stronger refining economics. See it live →
RBOB Gasoline
Reformulated Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending — the wholesale gasoline blendstock traded on NYMEX, quoted in $/gallon. Retail pump prices track RBOB plus ethanol, taxes and distribution. See it live →
Distillate
The middle of the barrel: diesel, heating oil and jet-kerosene. EIA "distillate stocks" are a key winter-demand and freight-economy indicator. See it live →
Henry Hub
A pipeline interchange in Erath, Louisiana where major gas pipelines meet — the delivery point for NYMEX natural-gas futures and the reference price for most North American gas, quoted in $/MMBtu. See it live →
MMBtu
One million British thermal units, the standard unit for pricing US natural gas. One barrel of crude contains roughly 5.8 MMBtu of energy. See it live →
OPEC and OPEC+
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (12 members led by Saudi Arabia) and the wider OPEC+ group including Russia and others, which coordinates production quotas to manage prices. See it live →
Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR)
A government-owned emergency crude stockpile. The US SPR, stored in Gulf Coast salt caverns, is the world's largest; IEA members are obliged to hold 90 days of net-import cover. See it live →
Cushing, Oklahoma
The delivery point for WTI futures and the largest crude storage hub in the US ("the pipeline crossroads of the world"). Cushing stock levels directly influence the WTI price and curve shape. See it live →
EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report
The most market-moving weekly US dataset, released Wednesdays: crude and product inventories, refinery runs, production and trade flows. Larger-than-expected builds are bearish; draws are bullish. See it live →
Baker Hughes Rig Count
A weekly Friday census of active drilling rigs — the standard leading indicator of future US oil and gas production. See it live →
Managed Money / COT Report
The CFTC's weekly Commitments of Traders report shows hedge-fund ("managed money") long and short positions in futures. Extreme net positioning often precedes reversals. See it live →
Days of Import Cover
How many days a country's strategic reserve would replace its net oil imports — the standard measure of reserve adequacy; the IEA obligation is 90 days. See it live →
Brent–WTI Spread
The price difference between the two major benchmarks. Brent usually trades a few dollars above WTI, reflecting transport costs from Cushing to tidewater and regional supply-demand differences. See it live →