Crude oil affects almost all activities of our modern day hydrocarbon society irrespective of the shifting trend to green energy. The ever increasing importance and demand of oil globally, has led to its highly complex market and pricing system. The purpose of this paper is to give a general understanding of the crude oil market and the formation of the oil pricing system in the long and short term. Understanding the factors behind this complex market system is vital as it can aid in critical decision and policy making. When the oil market began in the 1860s factors such as the quantity of oil that was demanded and flooded into the market were the main determinants of its price. Overtime the emergence of major oil companies dominated the market scene till their places were taken by governments in consumer and producer countries. These governments decisions, coupled with other organisations like the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, (OPEC), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), geopolitical conflicts and wars, economic and industrial growth and development are now influential factors that affect crude prices. Other contributors to the complex market system include futures market contracts, speculators in the commodity market, refinery capacities, the value of the dollar and the weather. Crude oil prices thus change over time and cannot be attributed to one single market factor as it has spawned a highly complicated market system dependent on several different factors.