Fortune put oil at $87.41 a barrel at 7:15 a.m. Eastern Time on Aug. 26, 2026, with Brent as the benchmark. The price was $2.80 lower than the previous morning and roughly $20 above the same time last year.
That shift matters most for consumers and fuel buyers because crude oil makes up over half of each gallon's cost at the pump. The futures market keeps repricing that input as trading opens and closes, so the number can move again quickly.
Brent at $87.41
$87.41 per barrel was the live Brent price at 7:15 a.m. Eastern Time. Brent matters because it prices much of the world's traded crude, which makes it a better global reference than a purely local measure. The U.S. Energy Information Administration now leans on Brent as its primary reference in its Annual Energy Outlook.
$2.80 below the prior morning, the move shows how quickly oil can reset even when the broader trend stays elevated. A drop that size can filter into gasoline with a lag, since pump prices usually ease down gradually in a pattern known as rockets and feathers. Drivers rarely get the full benefit at once.
Consumers and fuel buyers
Over half of each gallon's price comes from crude oil, so a move in Brent reaches consumers before it reaches any other part of the pump price. Refining, distribution, taxes, and retail margins still sit on top of that base, which is why the final change is usually smaller than the move in oil itself.
One reported oil-price update published alongside the morning level pointed readers to related Fortune coverage, including Michael Phelps Posts 2026 Fortune With Multi-Million-Dollar Net Worth and Nintendo sets Fire Emblem: Fates: Conquest for Aug. 4 Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave Direct. Those are separate stories, but they show how often Fortune appears across the feed while oil remains one of the few numbers that can still move household costs before noon.
Brent and future prices
Roughly $20 above the same time last year, the price sits well above the level a year ago even after the morning pullback. Supply and demand remain the main drivers, which is why a live quote says more about today’s balance than about any single forecast.
In 2025, the Trump administration moved to reopen more than 1.5 million acres in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas leasing, reversing the Biden administration's policy of limiting oil drilling in the Arctic. That kind of policy shift can reshape expectations over time, but it does not fix the day-to-day path of Brent. Prices will keep updating when futures markets are open, and that is the figure buyers will have to watch next.
