Benchmark (crude oil)
A benchmark crude or marker crude is a crude oil that serves as a reference price for buyers and sellers of crude oil. There are three primary benchmarks, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), Brent Blend, and Dubai Crude. Other well-known blends include the OPEC Reference Basket used by OPEC, Tapis Crude which is traded in Singapore, Western Canadian Select used in Canada, Bonny Light used in Nigeria, Urals oil used in Russia and Mexico's Isthmus. Energy Intelligence Group publishes a handbook which identified 195 major crude streams or blends in its 2011 edition.[1][2]
Benchmarks are used because there are many different varieties and grades of crude oil.[3] Using benchmarks makes referencing types of oil easier for sellers and buyers.
There is always a spread between WTI, Brent and other blends due to the relative volatility (high API gravity is more valuable), sweetness/sourness (low sulfur is more valuable) and transportation cost. This is the price that controls world oil market price.
Brent Blend[edit]
Brent Crude is a mix of crude oil from 15 different oil fields in the North Sea. It is the benchmark used primarily in Europe though it is also mixed in with the OPEC reference basket which is used around the world.[2]
Canadian Crude[edit]
Edmonton Par and Western Canadian Select (WCS) "are benchmarks [sic] crude oils for the Canadian market. Both Edmonton Par and WCS are high-quality low sulphur crude oils with API gravity levels of around 40°. In contrast, WCS is a heavy crude oil with an API gravity level of 20.5°."[6]
The Canadian Crude Index (CCI) serves as a benchmark for oil produced in Canada.[7] It allows investors to track the price, risk and volatility of the Canadian commodity.[7] The CCI provides a fixed price reference for Canadian crude oil and provides an accessible and transparent index to serve as a benchmark to build investable products upon, and could ultimately increase its demand to global markets.
Contracts[edit]
Because of its excellent liquidity and price transparency, the contract is used as a principal international pricing benchmark.
The first futures contracts on crude oil were traded in 1983, with the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) both attempting to take advantage of the government's de-regulation of crude oil. CBOT's initial contracts had delivery problems, so customers abandoned it for Nymex.[8]
Crude oil became the world's most actively traded commodity, and the NYMEX Division light sweet crude oil futures contract becoming the world's most liquid form for crude oil trading, as well as the world's largest-volume futures contract trading on a physical commodity. Additional risk management and trading opportunities are offered through options on the futures contract; calendar spread options; crack spread options on the pricing differential of heating oil futures and crude oil futures and gasoline futures and crude oil futures; and average price options.
The contract trades in units of 1,000 barrels, and the delivery point is Cushing, Oklahoma, which is also accessible to the international spot markets via pipelines. The contract provides for delivery of several grades of domestic and internationally traded foreign crudes, and serves the diverse needs of the physical market.