The price difference between a refined petroleum product—such as gasoline or diesel—and the crude oil used to produce it is known as the crack spread. It is a widely used measure of refining margins and provides a useful way to examine how the relationship between crude oil costs and finished-fuel prices changes over time.
Key Market Data & Trends: The Past 12 Months
Looking at the past year reveals a dramatic period of volatility in refining margins.
Fall/Winter 2025 — The Baseline
Through late 2025, crude oil prices remained relatively low, dipping into the $55–$60-per-barrel range. Gasoline prices generally moved in tandem with crude, leaving the simple gasoline crack spread in a relatively compressed, historically typical range of approximately $15–$25 per barrel.
Spring 2026 — The Surge
That relationship changed sharply in spring 2026. Global crude prices climbed aggressively toward a 52-week peak near $117 per barrel. At the same time, wholesale gasoline futures rose substantially, exceeding $3.80 per gallon amid localized refinery bottlenecks and changing supply routes.
The result was a substantial expansion in the spread between the cost of crude and the market price of refined gasoline.
September 2026 — The Current Environment
As of September 16, 2026, WTI crude oil is approximately $104.03 per barrel, while front-month RBOB gasoline is trading around $3.35–$3.45 per gallon.
Converting the gasoline price to a barrel-equivalent basis produces approximately $140.70–$144.90 per barrel. Subtracting the $104.03 WTI price yields a simple gasoline crack spread of roughly $36.70–$40.90 per barrel.
That is substantially wider than the approximately $15–$25-per-barrel range observed during the late-2025 baseline period.
What the Crack Spread Shows
The crack spread does not represent the refinery’s actual profit. Refiners also incur costs for natural gas, electricity, transportation, labor, maintenance, environmental compliance, and other inputs. Refiners also process crude into multiple products rather than simply converting one barrel of crude into one barrel of gasoline.
Nevertheless, the spread provides an important market signal: the price relationship between crude oil and refined gasoline has widened considerably over the past year.
The change is particularly notable because the increase is occurring while crude itself remains above $100 per barrel. Consumers therefore face elevated gasoline prices from two directions: a high underlying crude-oil cost and a substantially wider refining margin.
In other words, the question is no longer simply “How expensive is crude oil?” It is also “How much more expensive has the refined product become relative to its crude-oil input?”
The crack spread provides a way to quantify that difference.