PlotOil.py

import csv

import datetime
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

with open('brentdata.csv') as f:
    csv_data = csv.DictReader(f)
    data = list(csv_data)
    # Data now contains a list of dictionaries, each dictionary containing a line of the csv
    # Here's what the dictionary equalling one line looks like
    # {'Date': '1987-05-20', 'Brent Spot Price': '18.63'}


# This function converts the string date into a datetime object so that matplotlib can use it as the x axes 
def convert_date(string):
    return datetime.datetime.strptime(string, "%Y-%m-%d")

# We then extract all the y and x values from the list of dictionaries and put them in seperate lists to feed into matplotlib
y = [item['Brent Spot Price'] for item in data]
x = [convert_date(item['Date']) for item in data]

plt.plot(x, y, 'ro')
plt.autoscale = True
plt.show()