Oil price: WTI history from 1946 to 2024

The oil price history returns the price trend of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) from 1946 to 2024.
WTI is a type of crude oil used as a benchmark to define the price of oil and is quoted through futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The historical values of the WTI oil price from 1946 to today show the price of crude oil reaching an all-time high in July 2008 at 145.31 dollars per barrel and a historic low in 1946, the year in which the price of oil reached 1 $.17 a barrel.
The real-time graph of the price of oil reveals that WTI is currently quoted around $70 per barrel.
Historical oil prices Below are the data on the monthly price trend in recent years and those referring to previous decades.
Historic WTI Oil 2024 MonthOpenMaximumMinimChange% January 2024 71.67 79.28 69.28 +5.86% February 2024 (provisional) 75.89 76.94 71.42 -1.71% Annual performance 2024: +4.02 % Historical WTI Oil 2023 MonthOpenMaximumMinimChange% January 2023 80.57 82.66 72.47 -0.45% February 2023 79.12 80.61 72.25 -3.82% March 2023 76.85 80.94 64, 12 -1.79% April 2023 80.27 83.53 73.93 +1.47% May 2023 76.13 76.28 63.70 -11.32% June 2023 67.60 75.06 66.80 + 3.75% July 2023 70.46 82.00 69.70 +15.80% August 2023 81.64 84.89 77.59 +2.24% September 2023 83.63 95.03 83.46 +8, 56% October 2023 90.88 91.88 80.74 -10.76% November 2023 81.31 83.60 72.17 -6.25% December 2023 75.59 76.76 67.72 -5.67% Annual Performance 2023: -11.07% Historic WTI Oil 2022 MonthOpenMaximumMinimumVar.% January 2022 75.69 88.84 74.27 +17.21% February 2022 88.15 100.54 86.55 +8.59% March 2022 96.09 130.50 93.53 +4.76% April 2022 101.23 109.81 92.93 +4.40% May 2022 104.00 119.98 98.20 +9.53% June 2022 115, 40 123.68 101.53 -7.77% July 2022 106.01 111.45 90.56 -6.75% August 2022 98.46 98.65 85.73 -9.20% September 2022 88.83 90 .39 76.25 -11.23% October 2022 81.02 93.64 80.87 +8.86% November 2022 86.17 93.74 73.61 -6.90% December 2022 80.56 83.33 70.11 -0.11% Annual performance 2022: +6.31% Historical WTI oil 2021 MonthOpeningMaximumMinimumChange% January 2021 48.40 53.93 47.18 +7.58% February 2021 51.99 63.81 51, 64 +17.82% March 2021 61.95 67.98 57.25 -3.80% April 2021 59.49 65.47 57.63 +7.47% May 2021 63.64 67.52 61.56 + 4.31% June 2021 66.68 74.45 66.41 +10.78% July 2021 73.50 76.98 65.21 +0.65% August 2021 73.91 73.95 61.74 -7, 37% September 2021 68.55 76.67 67.12 +9.53% October 2021 75.12 85.41 74.23 +11.38% November 2021 83.36 84.97 64.43 -20.81% December 2021 67.01 77.44 62.43 +13.64% Annual performance 2021: +55.39% Historical WTI oil 2020 MonthOpenMaximumMinimChange% January 2020 61.60 65.65 50.97 -15.56% February 2020 51.01 54.50 43.85 -13.19% March 2020 43.70 48.66 19.27 -54.24% April 2020 20.10 29.13 -40.32 -8.01% May 2020 19 .04 35.77 18.05 +88.38% June 2020 35.21 41.63 34.27 +10.65% July 2020 39.84 42.40 38.54 +2.55% August 2020 40.39 43.78 39.58 +5.81% September 2020 42.83 43.43 36.13 -5.61% October 2020 39.90 41.70 34.92 -11.01% November 2020 35.24 46, 26 33.64 +26.68% December 2020 45.08 49.28 43.92 +7.01% Annual performance 2020: -21.23% Historical WTI oil 2019 MonthOpenMaximumMinimVar.% January 2019 45.80 55.37 44 .35 +18.45% February 2019 54.01 57.81 51.23 +6.38% March 2019 57.22 60.73 54.52 +5.10% April 2019 60.24 66.60 60.13 +6.27% May 2019 63.54 63.93 53.05 -16.29% June 2019 53.42 59.93 50.60 +9.29% July 2019 59.27 60.94 54.72 +0 .19% August 2019 57.85 57.99 50.52 -5.94% September 2019 55.00 63.38 52.84 -1.87% October 2019 54.28 56.92 50.99 +0.20 % November 2019 54.15 58.74 54.07 +1.83% December 2019 55.47 62.34 55.35 +10.68% Annual performance 2019: +33.32% Historical WTI oil 2018 MonthOpenMaximumMinimVar.% January 2018 60.20 66.66 60.10 +7.13% February 2018 64.76 66.30 58.07 -4.77% March 2018 61.55 66.55 59.95 +5.35% April 2018 64 .91 69.56 61.81 +5.59% May 2018 68.56 72.83 65.80 -2.23% June 2018 67.07 74.46 63.59 +10.61% July 2018 73.62 75.27 67.03 -7.27% August 2018 68.43 70.50 64.43 +1.51% September 2018 69.89 73.73 66.86 +4.94% October 2018 73.29 76.
90 64.81 -10.84% November 2018 64.88 65.39 49.41 -22.02% December 2018 52.45 54.55 42.36 -10.84% Annual performance 2018: -24.57% Historical WTI oil 2017 MonthOpenMaximumMinimChange% January 2017 54.20 54.20 50.71 -1.69% February 2017 52.76 54.94 51.22 +2.27% March 2017 53.95 54.44 54.44 -6.31% April 2017 50.69 53.76 48.20 -2.51% May 2017 49.17 52.00 43.76 -2.05% June 2017 48.63 49.17 42.05 -4 .72% July 2017 46.28 50.41 43.65 +8.97% August 2017 50.21 50.43 45.58 -5.86% September 2017 47.08 52.86 46.56 +9.40 % October 2017 51.64 54.85 49.10 +5.24% November 2017 54.65 59.05 53.89 +5.55% December 2017 57.42 60.51 55.82 +5.26% Performance annual 2017: +11.48% Below are the ten-year historical graphs of the price of oil from 1946 to 2016.
Historical oil price from 1946 to 1955 The first historical graph of the WTI oil price includes the decade from 1946 to 1955 In these 10 years the price of oil has marked its absolute historic lows.
In February 1946 a barrel of oil cost only $1.17 per barrel.
Of course, the historical price of oil at the time must be related to the context in the United States at the time.
In the midst of the post-war period, at the dawn of the economic boom and, above all, of the Cold War.
Historical oil price from 01/01/1946 to 12/31/1955 Historical oil price from 1956 to 1965 In the historical oil price in the decade 1956-1965 the minimum was reached at 2.83 dollars per barrel and the maximum at 3.07.
Historical oil price from 01/01/1956 to 12/31/1965 Oil price: historical from 1966 to 1975 In this historical ten-year period the minimum oil price was 2.4 dollars; the maximum was reached at 11.20.
Historical oil price from 01/01/1966 to 12/31/1975 Historical oil price from 1976 to 1985 It is in this decade that the price of oil begins to be more volatile, due to the globalization of the markets and the influence of the price of Brent.
The price of oil exceeds 39 dollars.
Historical oil price from 01/01/1976 to 12/31/1985 Historical oil price from 1986 to 1995 The decline in the price of oil which began at the end of 1985 continues.
After returning to the lows of 10 dollars a barrel, the price of oil is still trying to overcome the resistance of $40 a barrel – without success.
1995 ends with the inauguration of a new bullish trend.
Historical oil price from 01/01/1986 to 12/31/1995 Historical oil price from 1996 to 2005 The price of oil marks new historical highs around 68 dollars a barrel.
Historical oil price from 01/01/1996 to 12/31/2005 Historical oil price from 2006 to 2016 After reaching historical highs just over 140 dollars per barrel, in 2014 a new bearish phase was inaugurated which led to the WTI to hit lows of $27, last seen 13 years earlier.
Over the years, technologies have advanced and oil extraction costs have decreased.
The boom in the fracking technique, which allows rock to be drilled to extract crude oil, led to the birth of the shale oil industry – which has grown dramatically in just a few years.
The jump in US production meant that the United States no longer needed to buy oil from other countries to satisfy its domestic needs, thus triggering a bearish mechanism of imbalance between global supply and demand.
Historical oil price: characteristics The historical price of WTI oil is closely compared with the trend of Brent, another benchmark which takes as reference the oil extracted in the North Sea.
Other important quotes to consider are Dubai Crude, Oman Crude, Urals oil and OPEC Reference Basket.
The price trend has been influenced over the years by the amount of oil stored in Cushing (Oklahoma, United States) – the largest WTI trading center and delivery point for crude oil contracts.
The history of oil reflects the volatility of the raw material, as well as the strong sensitivity of the price to international events on the markets and – above all – to the trend in supply and demand for crude oil at a global level.
With the collapse inaugurated in the summer of 2014, the following return in style of the bull market after the historic Vienna agreement of 2016 and the new collapse during the Covid-19 pandemic, it has become very interesting to observe what the trend of the oil prices over the last few decades.