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Oil and gas prices: Brent, WTI, TTF and Henry Hub

“The oil price” and “the gas price” are not one price each, but a few benchmark prices traded on exchanges. Here are the four you meet most often, the units they are quoted in and how to read them.

Updated · about 4 min read · Written by OESA

Why there are several prices

Oil and gas vary in quality and are delivered in different places. The market therefore uses a few benchmark prices that trade heavily and are easy to follow. A specific cargo is often priced as the benchmark plus or minus a differential for quality, location and timing.

For oil the main benchmarks are Brent and WTI. For gas they are TTF in Europe and Henry Hub in the US. The analysis page shows all four, with delayed prices from Yahoo Finance.

Brent

Brent is the benchmark for light, low-sulphur crude from the North Sea, quoted in USD per barrel. The name comes from the Brent field on the UK shelf, but the price is now based on trading in several North Sea grades, among them the Norwegian Oseberg, Ekofisk and Troll. Since 2023, US WTI Midland delivered to Europe can also be included.

The Brent futures contract trades on ICE Futures Europe. Brent is widely used as the reference for oil in Europe and much of the rest of the world, and Norwegian crude is usually sold with Brent as the starting point.

WTI

WTI (West Texas Intermediate) is the benchmark for light, low-sulphur US crude, also in USD per barrel. The futures contract trades on NYMEX (CME Group) and is physically delivered at Cushing, Oklahoma, a hub of storage tanks and pipelines.

The difference between the two is the Brent–WTI spread. It reflects, among other things, the cost of moving US crude from inland to the coast and across the ocean, differences in quality and how much oil is stored where each contract is delivered.

TTF and NBP

TTF (Title Transfer Facility) is a virtual trading point for gas in the Dutch gas grid and the most widely used gas price in Europe. The futures trade on ICE Endex, and the price is quoted in EUR per MWh.

TTF is the gas price that matters most for the Norwegian shelf. About 95 per cent of Norwegian gas is piped to other European countries; the rest is exported as LNG by ship from Melkøya near Hammerfest (norskpetroleum.no, read 29 Sep 2026). According to the same source, Norwegian gas exports in 2025 equalled more than 30 per cent of gas consumption in the EU and the UK.

NBP (National Balancing Point) is the equivalent trading point in the UK, priced in pence per therm.

Henry Hub

Henry Hub is a gas pipeline hub in Louisiana and the main gas price in the US. The futures contract trades on NYMEX (CME Group), and the price is quoted in USD per MMBtu.

Henry Hub matters for Europe too: many US LNG contracts start from Henry Hub, and LNG cargoes go wherever the price is best, Europe or Asia. The gap between TTF and Henry Hub has to cover the cost of liquefying the gas, shipping it and turning it back into gas.

Units and conversions

  • 1 barrel is 42 US gallons, about 159 litres.
  • 1 MMBtu (one million British thermal units) is about 0.293 MWh. Conversely, 1 MWh is about 3.412 MMBtu.
  • 1 therm is 0.1 MMBtu.

To compare Henry Hub with TTF, convert Henry Hub from USD per MMBtu to USD per MWh by multiplying by 3.412, then into euros at the current exchange rate. That shows how much more expensive gas is in Europe than in the US, before transport.

On the shelf, production is measured in Sm³ and oil equivalents. See the units in the Norwegian shelf guide.

Spot, futures and the forward curve

The spot price is the price for delivery now. A futures contract is a standardised agreement to buy or sell at a fixed price for later delivery. When the news says “the oil price”, it usually means the nearest Brent futures contract (front month).

The prices of all the contracts further out form a forward curve:

  • Contango: later delivery is more expensive than delivery now. Common when supply is ample, because storing then pays.
  • Backwardation: later delivery is cheaper. A sign that the market is tight now.

What moves prices

Oil: OPEC+ production decisions, outages in production or transport, economic growth and demand, inventories, sanctions and the dollar. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) publishes US inventory figures every week, and the IEA publishes a monthly oil market report.

Gas: weather (cold raises heating demand, little wind and sun raises gas burn in power plants), how full the gas storages are, competition with Asia for LNG cargoes, and maintenance on fields, pipelines and plants. Storage levels in Europe are published in AGSI+.

Norm price: the price Norwegian oil is taxed at

Much of the oil from the Norwegian shelf is sold to companies in the same group. To make sure tax is based on market prices, the Petroleum Price Board sets a norm price for oil that is used when taxable income is calculated. For gas, the actual sales price is used (norskpetroleum.no, read 29 Sep 2026).

Where to follow prices

Sources

The guides are written by OESA students to explain concepts and how things fit together. They are not investment advice. Figures that are not definitions carry a source and a date; if you find an error, let us know at styret@oesa.no.

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