The WTI curve is bleeding lower across 2026. Our front-month is now June at $89.93. July prints $85.74. October is already down to $78, and December trades in the mid-$70s. The strip is priced for a softer market the further out you look.
May (CLK26) expires Tuesday, April 21. We have rolled to June (CLM26), where volume is now concentrated.
The curve today
| Contract | Month | Price |
|---|---|---|
| CLK26 | May 2026 (expiring) | $93.71 |
| CLM26 | June 2026 | $89.93 |
| CLN26 | July 2026 | $85.74 |
| CLV26 | October 2026 | $78.10 |
| CLZ26 | December 2026 | $75.89 |
Backwardation this steep points straight at the physical market. Prompt barrels are scarce enough that buyers will pay almost $18 more for May delivery than for December.
What is priced in
The front-end premium sits on the Strait of Hormuz blockade and the broader Iran crisis. Refiners are scrambling for prompt crude. The back of the curve assumes diplomacy, demand destruction, or rerouted flows peel the stress off within a few months.
The roll from May to June already strips close to $4 from the headline quote. The roll from June to July would strip another $4 at the current shape. If the squeeze holds, each expiry will keep clipping the front of the curve.
The whole curve hangs on the war
Everything in these numbers is a bet on how the Iran standoff plays out from here. That is a bet that can flip in a single headline.
A real escalation, more strikes, a second Hormuz closure, infrastructure hits inside Saudi Arabia or the UAE, lifts the whole strip and steepens the front further. A ceasefire or credible breakthrough does the opposite, collapsing prompt prices fast and flattening the curve in days.
The $18 gap between front-month and year-end is only as stable as the standoff behind it. The trajectory of the headline price is in the hands of the war, not the contract calendar.