Friday, July 19, 2013

Spread between WTI and Brent vanishes, lower relative U.S. oil prices


WTI and Brent used to trade in line, but prices diverged over the past few years

The spread between West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent crude represents the difference between two different crude benchmarks. WTI more represents the price that U.S. oil producers receive, and Brent more represents the prices received internationally. The two crudes are of similar quality, and theoretically should be priced very close to each other. However, the prices differed greatly between the two crudes because a recent surge in production in the United States has caused a buildup of crude oil inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, where WTI is priced. This created a supply and demand imbalance at the hub, causing WTI to trade lower than Brent. Before this increase in U.S. oil production, the two crudes had historically traded in-line with each other. (more)

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