# Oil hits $102 per barrel as prices surge

> Brent crude oil rose $2.76 in a day and $34 in a year, driven by supply and demand shifts alongside geopolitical tensions.
- Title: Oil hits $102 per barrel as prices surge · Fortune | Shortify
- Summary: Brent crude oil rose $2.76 in a day and $34 in a year, driven by supply and demand shifts alongside geopolitical tensions. Oil prices reached one hundred two…
- Keywords: oil prices, brent crude, energy markets, supply and demand, geopolitics, opec, Oil, hits, 102, barrel, prices, surge
- Source: Fortune — https://fortune.com/article/price-of-oil-09-23-2026
- Author: Joseph Hostetler
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: oil prices, brent crude, energy markets, supply and demand, geopolitics, opec
## Oil price hits $102 per barrel
At ten am Eastern Time on September twenty-third, twenty twenty-six, Brent crude oil sits at one hundred two dollars three cents per barrel, up two dollars seventy-six cents since yesterday.
## Year-on-year surge in crude costs
The price is roughly thirty-four dollars higher than one year ago, representing a fifty point thirty-seven percent increase since September twenty-third, twenty twenty-five.
## What drives oil price movements
Supply and demand remain the main drivers of oil prices. Fears of economic slowdown, conflict, or similar shocks can cause oil prices to move sharply in short order.
## Brent crude as global benchmark
Brent crude oil is the main global oil benchmark and prices much of the world's traded crude. The U.S. Energy Information Administration now leans on Brent as its primary reference.
## Oil's volatile historical record
Oil prices have experienced spikes driven by wars and supply cuts, as well as crashes linked to global recessions and oversupply. The early nineteen seventies brought the first big oil shock during the Yom Kippur War.
## Recent price history and crashes
Prices dropped in the mid-nineteen eighties due to weaker demand and more non-OPEC oil producers. During the twenty twenty COVID lockdown, oil demand collapsed, bringing prices to under twenty dollars per barrel.
## How crude oil affects gas prices
Crude oil is the largest single driver of final pump price, typically representing over half of each gallon's cost. When oil prices spike, gas prices tend to rise quickly, but decline gradually when oil falls.

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## Strategic reserves and emergencies
The U.S. maintains the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to safeguard energy security during disasters like sanctions, severe storm damage, or war. It eases sudden price jumps when supply gets disrupted.
## Oil and natural gas connection
Both oil and natural gas are major energy sources. If oil prices increase, some industries may swap natural gas for segments of their operations where possible, increasing demand for natural gas.
## U.S. policy shapes future supply
In twenty twenty-five, the Trump administration moved to reopen more than one point five million acres in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas leasing.
## Key takeaway

Oil prices reached one hundred two dollars three cents per barrel on September twenty-third, twenty twenty-six, up fifty point thirty-seven percent year-on-year.