What Happened? Global oil prices continued their rise as the European light sweet crude oil benchmark, Brent, hit a milestone $80 per barrel for the first time since November 2014 . To put the rise in perspective, one year ago the benchmark traded at around $51 per barrel, while two years ago it was at just $49 per barrel. The dramatic turnaround is music to the ears of Saudi Arabia, Russia and other major oil producers that have been cutting production for nearly a year and half to turn around the market. Now these countries can declare mission accomplished — sort of.