It contains approximately 0.24% of sulphur which means it is a ‘light’ crude oil. The extraction of WTI crude oil is completed exclusively in North America. Its production sites and its properties therefore make it ideal for refining in the United States. This refinery is mostly completed in the Midwest and the Gulf Coast areas. It should also be noted that the API gravity of WTI (West Texas Intermediate) is around 39.6° and its specific density is 0.827. First, an agreement with Iran was struck, allowing the country to export more oil, which should have increased the amount of Iranian crude flowing into the market on a daily basis.

This grade is described as light crude oil because of its low density and sweet because of its low sulfur content. Unlike Brent Crude, WTI crude oil is not from any specific oil fields. ] local trade between oilfield production and refineries around Midland, Texas, and Cushing, Oklahoma, could be said[by whom? Brent Crude is often considered https://www.forex-world.net/ the global benchmark for oil because roughly two-thirds of the world’s oil is priced off Brent Crude futures. WTI Crude Oil, also known as light sweet crude, is considered the U.S. benchmark for pricing oil. West Texas Intermediate, more generally represented by the initials WTI, is also sometimes called Texas Light Sweet by certain brokers.

Commodities Catch-up: Basics of Corn, Oil, Others

It is important to notice that mere anticipation of an influx of oil into the market was enough to cause price fluctuations. Political shifts, weather events, and global health crises have been some of the biggest shock factors in the oil market. The percentage of sulfur in crude oil determines the amount of processing needed to refine the oil into energy products. There has been a trend, due to advancements in oil drilling and fracking, of West Texas Intermediate becoming cheaper than Brent Crude oil. Prior to this, Brent Crude tended to be cheaper than West Texas Crude.

Around the time that the Arab Spring (an uprising across much of the Arabic region) began in Egypt in February of 2011, the spread widened. By the middle of 2018, the WTI/Brent spread widened to more than $6 per barrel. Many analysts attributed the increase to distribution bottlenecks in the United States and competition from Canadian oil. Many energy analysts predict that oil could soon touch $100 a barrel, even as electric cars become more popular and the coronavirus pandemic persists.

1. In 2005, hurricanes led to sharp rises in oil prices, as refineries and production facilities shut down for the duration of the weather events.
2. Besides being one of the most actively traded commodities, the price of crude oil is extremely sensitive to geopolitical and weather events.
3. Though Brent crude and WTI crude are the most popular benchmarks, their prices are often contrasted.
4. The financial transaction services present on this site in the form of advertising are totally independent from trade-oil.com and are provided for information purposes only.
5. To understand how world events can cause the spread between Brent and WTI to move dramatically for long periods, look back a few years.
6. Of course, it is mainly the law of supply and demand that influences the prices, but other fundamental factors can also have a more or less pronounced effect.

And although WTI Crude Oil and Brent Crude are two highly correlated commodities, each can respond differently to geopolitical and local economic forces. WTI and Brent are the two major types of crude oil but they have certain specific differences. For example whereas WTI is the principal crude oil traded on the American markets, Brent is the primary crude oil in the petroleum sector on the European markets. It should be noted that certain differences exist relating to the composition and concentration of these two major types of crude oil. WTI is the underlying commodity of Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s oil futures contracts (legally binding agreements to buy/sell a commodity at a specific month at a pre-determined price). Crude oil flows “inbound to Cushing from all directions and outbound through dozens of pipelines”.[16] It is in Payne County, Oklahoma, United States.

West Texas Intermediate as an Oil Market Benchmark

Please do not hesitate to report them to us in the case whereby you find a mistake. There are three major types of crude oil throughout the world that are used as oil reference prices according to their production zones. Therefore, for European oil, Brent from the North Sea acts as the reference, whereas for the OPEC countries, it is the Dubai crude which is referred to for the price determination. Since the shale boom in the U.S., which resulted in a production increase of WTI, the price of WTI has gone down and usually trades at a discount to Brent. Brent is also tied to more worldwide oil markets and serves as an international benchmark, meaning that more factors are influencing its price.

The difference in price between Brent and WTI is called the Brent-WTI spread. Crude oil is a fundamental source of energy for the world’s economy. Besides being one of the most actively traded commodities, the price of crude oil is extremely sensitive to geopolitical and weather events.

In 2015, the WTI/Brent spread dropped because of events in the United States and the Middle East. Iran, whose oil is benchmarked to Brent crude, agreed to increase flows into the market. At the same time, U.S. rig counts declined, while WTI export activity increased. The increased oil exports decreased U.S. oil https://www.investorynews.com/ production and supply, pushing WTI prices higher relative to Brent, but the conversion was short-lived. One of the characteristics of the WTI crude oil is that it is much lighter than Brent. It is also called Texas Light Sweet because of its low sulfur content (0.24%), which makes of it a sweet crude oil.

It is actually a type of crude oil used by the economists as a standard value to determine the crude oil price as a commodity on the exchange markets, within the framework of futures contracts. This quotation is priced on the New York Mercantile Exchange, which is the principal world commodities exchange. The world crude oil market is all about investor anticipation of supply and demand, and oil prices are very volatile and highly influenced by consumer and investor sentiment. As such, global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic can send shockwaves throughout the market.

While both are considered light sweet crude, they do have different trading volumes depending on each commodity’s futures contract months. And even though both trade on U.S. exchanges and their prices are correlated, meaning they tend to move together, there are times when WTI is more expensive than Brent and vice versa. Just like there are different types of crude oil, there are also different crude oil blends, typically classified according to their capacity to be refined into gasoline. WTI and Brent crude are both classified as light and sweet crude oils.

Since Brent is the pricing benchmark for Iranian crude, that development depressed the price of Brent at the time. The most heavily traded grades are Brent North Sea crude (commonly known as “Brent crude”) and West Texas Intermediate (commonly known as “WTI”). Brent is oil that is produced in the Brent oil fields and other sites in the North Sea. In 2011, amid tensions in the Middle East, fears that the Suez Canal would be closed caused Brent prices to trade at a premium to WTI.

Energy Investing Basics: WTI vs. Brent Crude Oil

West Texas Intermediate is the benchmark for the U.S. light oil market and is sourced from U.S. oil fields. Fears concerning the closure of the Suez Canal and a lack of available supply caused Brent crude oil to become more expensive than WTI. As tensions eased over the canal’s operation, the spread reduced.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI): Definition and Use as a Benchmark

In contrast, West Texas Intermediate is produced in landlocked areas, making transportation costs more onerous. Several indicators are taken into account in the price calculation of the WTI barrel. Of course, it is mainly the law of supply and demand that influences the prices, but other fundamental factors can also have a more or less pronounced effect. WTI is the main oil benchmark for North America as it is sourced from the United States, primarily from the Permian Basin. It then travels through pipelines where it is refined in the Midwest and the Gulf of Mexico.

It is generally noted that the barrel price of crude WTI is slightly higher than that of the Brent or Dubai barrel. It is often priced one dollar more than the Brent and two dollars more than the Dubai. However, sometimes the WTI barrel is less expensive than the Brent barrel, but this difference has never historically exceeded 27 dollars. WTI is one of the most referenced benchmarks used in oil news reports on oil prices, along with the Brent price – which comes from the North Sea. With expanding support for exporting U.S. crude abroad, that meant less drilling in the future and less U.S. production on a daily basis. Therefore, Brent prices moved lower by virtue of hints of more Iranian crude, and WTI strengthened because of less U.S. production and increasing exports.

Crude oil that is lighter in density is easier to refine into gasoline, while oil with a heavier density is more difficult to refine. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is a specific grade of crude oil and one of the main three https://www.dowjonesanalysis.com/ benchmarks in oil pricing, along with Brent and Dubai Crude. WTI is known as a light sweet oil because it contains less than 0.50% sulfur (normally about 0.24% to 0.34%), making it “sweet,” and has a low density making it “light.”

Adoption of WTI futures for investment purposes

Brent crude oil futures trade on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). Brent crude is traded internationally, so the delivery locations will vary by country. The NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange) division of the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) lists futures contracts of WTI crude oil. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) controls most of the oil production and distribution, often dictating costs for not only oil suppliers but countries as well. Most nations factor oil prices into their budgets, so OPEC has been considered a leading geopolitical force.