Since 2004, the price of crude oil in the international market has increased by more than 50%. Jim Lintor, head of the website of oil traders with real-time oil trading information service center in Britain and America, said that although the London oil futures market is only one third of new york's in scale and trading volume, it is the only oil futures exchange in Europe, which is of great significance for traders to avoid risks through futures trading in the unpredictable oil market.
Analysts believe that in view of the fact that the price of Brent crude oil in the North Sea of the International Petroleum Exchange has become one of the benchmark oil prices in the international market, although the number of large traders entering the London International Petroleum Exchange will not increase in the future, the crude oil futures trading of the exchange may become more active.
In April 2000, IPE was reorganized and became a profitable company. In June, 20001,IPE was listed by Intercontinental Exchange Company, and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company established under the laws of Delaware in the eastern United States.
At present, there are four important crude oil futures contracts in the world: the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) light and low-sulfur crude oil, namely "West Texas Intermediate" futures contract, high-sulfur crude oil futures contract, London International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) Brent crude oil futures contract and Singapore Exchange (SGX) Dubai acid crude oil futures contract. Other oil futures include heating oil, fuel oil, gasoline and light diesel oil. Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) gasoline, kerosene, diesel oil, crude oil and other futures.
NYMEX West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures contract specifications are 65,438+0,000 barrels per lot, and the quotation unit is USD/barrel. After its launch, this contract is the most successful commodity futures contract in history, and its transaction price has become the focus of international oil market.