https://www.instagram.com/vanessaclarkipaiThis is your Daily Crude Oil Price Tracker with Vanessa Clark podcast.Good evening, this is Vanessa Clark with the Daily Crude Oil Price Tracker. Today we're wrapping up what has been a historic year for oil markets, and I want to walk you through everything that's happened and where crude oil prices are trading right now as we head into 2026.Let me start with today's numbers because they tell an important story. Brent crude is finishing the year at around 61 dollars and 16 cents per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude, or WTI as we call it, is sitting at approximately 58 dollars and 80 cents per barrel. Now, those prices might not sound dramatic on their own, but when you look at the bigger picture of 2025, we're talking about some serious losses.Both benchmarks have posted their worst annual performance since 2020. Brent is down roughly 18 percent for the year, while WTI has declined nearly 20 percent. That's the steepest annual drop in five years, and it's been driven by one overwhelming force in the market: oversupply.Here's what happened in 2025. OPEC Plus, the group of OPEC nations plus allied producers like Russia, made a dramatic strategic shift. Instead of prioritizing price stability, they focused on market share. They increased production quotas by nearly 3 million barrels per day and accelerated their timeline for unwinding previous production cuts. Meanwhile, non-OPEC producers like the United States hit record output levels, approaching 14 million barrels per day. Brazil and Guyana also saw production peaks during the year.The problem is that global demand simply hasn't kept pace. Economists point to weak demand growth across major economies, uncertainty from trade tensions, and macroeconomic headwinds. This created a situation where supply is far outpacing consumption.Now, there were geopolitical events that you might have expected to support prices. The Russia-Ukraine conflict intensified with drone attacks on energy infrastructure. There was a twelve-day Israel-Iran conflict in June that threatened shipping routes. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been locked in a crisis over Yemen, and the Trump administration has ramped up sanctions on Russia, Iran, and Venezuela. Despite all of this, the geopolitical risk premium was simply overwhelmed by the fundamental oversupply dynamic.Looking ahead into 2026, analysts are watching closely for what comes next. Most expect the surplus to worsen, with estimates ranging from 2 to 3.84 million barrels per day of excess supply. Some analysts believe Brent could dip into the mid-50s or even low-50s range in the first quarter before potentially recovering. OPEC Plus has paused additional production increases for the first quarter, but many expect they'll continue unwinding cuts after that unless prices fall significantly.The key thing to remember is that crude oil markets are now driven by supply and demand fundamentals rather than geopolitical headlines. For oil price traders and investors, this means we should expect continued range-bound trading with limited upside momentum unless something dramatic changes with supply or demand.I'm Vanessa Clark with the Daily Crude Oil Price Tracker. Thanks so much for listening, and please be sure to subscribe and tune in next time for the latest updates on crude oil prices and what's moving the market.For more http://www.quietplease.aiCheck out Vanessa on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/vanessaclarkipaiFor some deals, check out https://amzn.to/4hSgB4rThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

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