crude oil and U.S. Henry Hub natural gas. The Brent price averaged $44 per barrel for the full-year 2016, compared to $52 in 2015. As of mid-February 2017, the Brent price was $55 per barrel. The majority of the company’s equity crude production is priced based on the Brent benchmark. Crude oil prices remained low through much of 2016, but increased modestly late in the year after OPEC announced production cuts. On November 30, 2016, OPEC agreed to cap production at 32.5 million barrels per day starting in January 2017.

The WTI price averaged $43 per barrel for the full-year 2016, compared to $49 in 2015. As of mid-February 2017, the WTI price was $53 per barrel. WTI traded at a discount to Brent for much of 2016 due to high inventories and excess crude supply in the U.S. market.

A differential in crude oil prices exists between high-quality (high-gravity, low-sulfur) crudes and those of lower quality (low-gravity, high-sulfur). The amount of the differential in any period is associated with the relative supply/demand balances for each crude type, which are functions of the capacity of refineries that are able to process each as feedstock into high-value light products (motor gasoline, jet fuel, aviation gasoline and diesel fuel). In second-half 2016, the differential held generally steady in North America as robust refinery demand supported heavy crude values, while light sweet crude prices in the U.S. were supported by slowing domestic production. Outside of North America, differentials were steady to slightly wider amid well-supplied light sweet crude markets in the Atlantic Basin, while continued robust Middle East exports and rising Iranian production kept pressure on heavier, more sour crudes. Differentials widened in December as light sweet crude values benefited more from the announced OPEC deal.

Chevron produces or shares in the production of heavy crude oil in California, Indonesia, the Partitioned Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Venezuela and in certain fields in Angola, China and the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea. (See page FS-12 for the company’s average U.S. and international crude oil realizations.)

In contrast to price movements in the global market for crude oil, price changes for natural gas in many regional markets are more closely aligned with supply-and-demand conditions in those markets. Fluctuations in the price of natural gas in the United States are closely associated with customer demand relative to the volumes produced and stored in North America. In the United States, prices at Henry Hub averaged $2.46 per thousand cubic feet (MCF) during 2016, compared with $2.62 during 2015. As of mid-February 2017, the Henry Hub spot price was $2.86 per MCF.

Outside the United States, price changes for natural gas depend on a wide range of supply, demand and regulatory circumstances. Chevron sells natural gas into the domestic pipeline market in most locations. In some locations, Chevron continues to invest in long-term projects to install infrastructure to produce and liquefy natural gas for transport by tanker to other markets. The company's long-term contract prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) are