Live WTI crude oil and Henry Hub natural gas spot prices, pulled continuously from market data — the same NYMEX benchmarks operators use when calculating your royalty payments.
Mon, May 4, 2026, 1:06 AM UTC
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude is a light, sweet crude oil and the primary benchmark for North American oil pricing. WTI is what NYMEX futures contracts settle against; most Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and other domestic oil sells at WTI minus a basin-specific differential.
Henry Hub (Erath, Louisiana) is the U.S. benchmark price for natural gas. Quoted in USD per MMBtu (Million British Thermal Units). Most U.S. gas production is priced at Henry Hub plus or minus a regional basis differential — Permian Waha and Marcellus typically trade at significant discounts to Henry Hub.
The price you see at the top of this page is the spot price — what one barrel of oil or one MMBtu of natural gas changes hands for at the benchmark hub today. The price your operator pays you, however, is the realized price — what they actually sold YOUR share of the production for, minus a few things along the way:
Basis differential: Oil and gas don't sell at the NYMEX hub price — they sell at the local market price, which is typically a few dollars below WTI for crude (and sometimes negative for gas in pipeline-constrained basins like the Permian Waha or Marcellus).
Marketing & transportation deductions: Pipeline tariffs, gathering, and processing fees are typically deducted from your share before the operator cuts the check.
Severance & ad valorem taxes: Texas (4.6% oil / 7.5% gas), Oklahoma (7%), and most producing states deduct severance taxes from royalty before payment.
Volume × price × decimal: Your check stub line item is roughly: barrels (or Mcf) × realized price × your decimal interest.
Take any recent royalty check stub and back into your realized price:
Step 1: Find the gross revenue and gross volume for one product (oil OR gas) on the stub.
Step 2: Divide: revenue ÷ volume = your implied realized price.
Step 3: Compare to the spot price above for the same period (or use the EIA WTI history / EIA Henry Hub history).
Tight basis (within $3-5/bbl oil, $0.30/MMBtu gas) means fair pricing.
Wide negative basis on the implied realized — investigate the deductions on the stub or compare against neighbors' stubs.
The price above is a spot snapshot — useful for ground-truthing but NOT what to use when valuing your mineral interest. For valuation, the industry uses the NYMEX forward strip — the market's price expectation for the next 12-24 months priced today through futures contracts.
Modern horizontal wells produce roughly 50-65% of their lifetime oil/gas in the first 24 months. Pricing those barrels at today's spot vs. the forward strip can shift a fair-value calculation by 15-25%.
When Buckhead Energy makes a written offer on your minerals, we model your specific wells against the current strip — not just today's spot — to give you a defensible, market-grounded number.
Spot prices give you context — but only a written offer based on YOUR specific wells, operator, formation, and decimal can tell you what your interest is actually worth. Free, no obligation.
Get Your Free Mineral ValuationTexas Oil & Gas Industry Snapshot — operators, counties, formations, drilling activity
Oklahoma Oil & Gas Industry Snapshot
What's a Fair Price for Mineral Rights?
The Mineral Rights Selling Process
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) — official price history
CME Group Energy Markets — NYMEX forward strip
Prices shown are spot benchmarks for reference and educational purposes only — they are not a quote, an offer, or a guarantee of the price your minerals will realize. Always consult your own check stubs and a qualified professional for specific financial decisions. Buckhead Energy does not provide tax, legal, or investment advice.
Oil benchmark: WTI Crude
Oil unit: USD per barrel (bbl)
Gas benchmark: Henry Hub
Gas unit: USD per MMBtu
1 MMBtu ≈ 1 Mcf of dry natural gas
Last updated: 2026-05-04
Free written offers based on your wells + the current price strip — no obligation.
Get Your Free Offer| Topic | What It Means for Mineral Owners |
|---|---|
| Live commodity prices | WTI crude oil and Henry Hub natural gas update continuously throughout the trading day. |
| Realized vs. spot price | Mineral owners are paid the realized price (operator's actual sale price minus deductions and basis differential), NOT the headline NYMEX number. |
| Basis differentials matter | Permian, Bakken, Marcellus, and Haynesville carry persistent basis differentials to NYMEX — sometimes negative by $2-5+/bbl on oil or $0.30-1.00+/MMBtu on gas. |
| Reality-check your stub | Take stub revenue ÷ stub volume to back into your realized price; compare to the spot above to spot abnormal deductions. |
| Forward strip vs. spot | Use the NYMEX forward strip (12-24 months) for valuation, not spot prices — spot is a snapshot, valuations need the curve. |
| Want a written offer? | Get a free, no-obligation valuation based on your specific wells and the current strip. |