Current Price of Oil as of July 20, 2026
As of 5:45 a.m. Eastern Time on July 20, 2026, the price of Brent crude oil was $88.22 per barrel, down $2.78 from the previous day but up approximately $18.39 over the past year. The article from Fortune explains that oil prices are driven primarily by supply and demand, with significant influence from geopolitical events, economic downturns, and wars. It details how crude oil prices translate to gasoline pump prices, noting that crude accounts for more than half the cost per gallon, and that gas prices tend to rise quickly but fall slowly ('rockets and feathers'). The piece also covers the role of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve in emergency energy security and price stabilization, the linkage between oil and natural gas prices, and the historical performance of oil using Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) benchmarks. Key historical events highlighted include the 1970s oil shock, the 2008 financial crisis spike and crash, and the 2020 COVID-19 demand collapse.
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