1. Different places of origin: Brent crude oil includes four kinds of light and low-sulfur crude oil produced in Beihai Oilfield: Brent, 1940s, Ekofisk and Oseberg. Brent and the forties were located on the coast of England, while Ekofisk and Osberg were located on the coast of Norway. It is difficult and costly to exploit Brent crude oil at sea.

American crude oil (WTI crude oil) is mainly light crude oil from the Middle East, which is difficult to exploit, low in cost and good in quality. Its delivery place is in Cushing, Oklahoma, USA.

2. Different exchanges: Brent crude oil is mainly traded in the London commodity futures market. American crude oil traded on NYMEXWTI is also an important part of the world crude oil pricing system, but because it is only priced for American crude oil, it is very localized and has gradually withdrawn from the historical stage.

3. Different pricing methods: The impact of Brent crude oil price mainly depends on the change of OPEC output and the change of demand in Europe and Asia. American crude oil price mainly depends on Cushing crude oil inventory: when the inventory is high, WTI price drops and Brent -WTI spread widens; When inventory is low, WTI price rises and Brent -WTI crude oil price difference narrows.

In a word, American crude oil is the benchmark oil for futures pricing based on the American market, while Brent crude oil is the benchmark oil for spot market based on the European market. Brent crude oil is very different from American crude oil, and the price difference is about 5%. However, from the data point of view, Brent crude oil and American crude oil basically rise and fall simultaneously, but the market is subject to international trends.