1. Characteristics of Brent crude oil: Brent is a light and low-sulfur crude oil produced in Brent and Nizhnan oil fields in the North Sea, which is widely traded in futures, OTC swaps, forwards and spot spot markets. At present, more than 65% of the world's physical crude oil is linked to Brent system pricing. The loading port of Brent crude oil is Sullom Voe in shetland islands, Beihai. The main users are refineries located in northwest Europe and the east coast of the United States.
2. The contract characteristics of Brent crude oil:
① Flexibility: By providing futures contracts corresponding to the spot market, the oil industry can lock prices and arrange production by using futures cashing and basis trading, so as to better control the time of buying and selling commodities.
② Price transparency: Real-time prices can be obtained through major data providers. Therefore, all participants can know the price situation in real time when trading.
③ Small-batch trading: Futures trading provides the possibility for small-batch trading (multiple of 1 1,000 barrels), while the quantity standard in the spot market is higher.
(4) Strong contract security: London Clearing House (LCH) is the other side of the buyer and seller who trade on the London Stock Exchange. This ensures the financial soundness of each contract traded by (clearing members of the exchange), including delivery and settlement. LCH has no obligation or contractual relationship with its members' customers (that is, non-member users or settlement members of the exchange).
⑤ Contract unit: 1 1,000 barrels (42,000 gallons).
⑥ Signing month: continuous 12 months, extended to a maximum of 24 months after the first quarter and to a maximum of 36 months after half a year.
⑦ Quotation method: USD and US cents per barrel.
8 Minimum price fluctuation: 0.0 1 USD/barrel.
9 Minimum contract turnover rate: 10 USD per contract.
Attending daily price limit: there is no price limit.
3. Price trend: new york crude oil futures closed up 0.73 USD in June at 5438+ 10, with an increase of 1.03% to 7 1.67 USD/barrel, ending the downward trend for six consecutive weeks; In February, Brent crude oil futures closed up 0.73 USD, or 0.98%, at 75. 15 USD/barrel. _ Brent crude oil futures fell more than 5% to $34.26 a barrel. In July, WTI crude oil futures contract fell below $32/barrel, with a drop of more than 6% on that day. Bank of America believes that according to the data, global onshore crude oil inventories decreased by 26,543.8 billion barrels last week, while US inventories were close to a three-year low. Due to the shortage of market supply, oil prices are expected to rise. Previously, they expected the oil price to rise to 100 USD/barrel in the middle of next year, but they said that if this winter is colder than in previous years, the expected oil price may be realized earlier.