Brent: Crude oil futures traded on the London International Petroleum Exchange (IPE). Brent crude oil is produced in the Brent region of the North Atlantic. Brent crude oil futures price is also one of the benchmarks of international oil price.
International crude oil pricing knowledge
The pricing of the international crude oil market is based on the standard oil in the world's major oil-producing areas. For example, on the New York Futures Exchange, crude oil futures are based on "WTI" produced in West Texas, and all crude oils produced or sold in the United States are priced based on light and low sulfur WTI.
Due to the strength of American super crude oil buyers and the influence of New York Futures Exchange itself, crude oil futures trading based on WTI has become the leader in global commodity futures trading volume. Generally speaking, crude oil futures contracts have good liquidity and high price transparency, and are one of the three benchmark prices in the world crude oil market. When the public and the media usually talk about how many dollars the oil price has exceeded, it mainly refers to this price.
However, more than two-thirds of the world's crude oil trading volume is not based on WTI, but on Brent crude oil in the North Sea, which is also light and low in sulfur. On June 23rd, 1988, the London International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) launched Brent crude oil futures contracts, including northwest Europe, the North Sea, the Mediterranean, Africa, Yemen and other countries and regions, all based on this. Because the futures contract meets the needs of the oil industry, it is considered as a "highly flexible tool to avoid risks and transactions" and also ranks among the three major international crude oil prices.
London has thus become one of the three major international crude oil futures trading centers. Brent crude oil futures and spot market constitute Brent crude oil pricing system, covering up to 80% of the global crude oil trading volume. Even today when the price of crude oil in new york is becoming more and more important, about 65% of the global crude oil trading volume is based on Brent crude oil in the North Sea.
Brent crude oil and WTI crude oil are very close in quality and price. Statistics of crude oil prices in the past 10 years show that the two are rising and falling synchronously, and the former is usually about 5% lower than the latter. For example, the Brent crude oil price of 1998 is $65,438 +03.43, and the WTI of new york is $65,438+04.53; In 2004, it rose to $38.29 and $465,438+$0.60 respectively; By the end of August this year, when the WTI of new york exceeded 70 dollars, Brent crude oil exceeded 67 dollars.