Bakken crude holds discount to WTI as benchmarks flat

In the Sunday afternoon Bakken Wire price snapshot for Oct. 25, 2026, North Dakota’s Bakken crude held a $3.42 per barrel discount to WTI while major benchmark prices were unchanged.

WTI crude was listed at $103.27 per barrel, with no change from the previous reference level. Brent crude was listed at $111.70 per barrel, also unchanged. Natural gas was posted at $3.05 per million British thermal units, with no change recorded.

The Bakken differential of -$3.42 versus WTI implies a Bakken crude price of $99.85 per barrel when measured against the $103.27 WTI benchmark. The spread between Brent and WTI was $8.43 per barrel, based on the provided figures. The Brent-WTI spread is a global benchmark relationship rather than a direct North Dakota realized-price adjustment.

For Bakken operators, the unchanged benchmark levels mean the day’s price data did not show a directional move that would alter cash flow expectations in the snapshot. The Bakken formation is North Dakota’s primary oil-producing region, so WTI and the Bakken differential are closely watched by producers and royalty owners. The $3.42 discount is a regional pricing relationship embedded in the snapshot, not a directional move in the provided figures.

For operators, the fixed benchmark levels mean any change in revenue in the supplied data would come primarily from volume, gathering and marketing deductions, or the differential, rather than from a shift in WTI or Brent.

For royalty owners, the discount is also material. Royalty revenue tied to the value of oil produced from Bakken leases will reflect the regional price relationship to WTI rather than the WTI benchmark itself. In the supplied data, the implied Bakken price is $99.85 per barrel, compared with $103.27 for WTI and $111.70 for Brent.

The provided price data did not include additional news-source context on supply, inventories, demand or geopolitical factors. As a result, the main driver visible in today’s update is stability: WTI, Brent and natural gas all showed no change in the live figures.

That flat pattern leaves North Dakota producers operating against a steady benchmark environment in the data supplied. The Bakken differential remains the most relevant regional pricing factor, because it translates a WTI-based reference price into the likely realized value for Williston Basin crude.

If the differential persists, operators and royalty owners will continue to track WTI as the benchmark anchor while adjusting for the $3.42 discount. Natural gas pricing, meanwhile, held at $3.05, offering no change in the gas-side revenue picture within the provided snapshot.