Benchmark Crudes
What are benchmark crudes? Why is so much attention paid to crude oils such as the U.S. benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) or the North Sea crude oil Brent Blend? These two crudes and other crude oils have a number of things in common critical to what is known as a benchmark crude oil. Benchmark crudes set the pricing standard by which other crudes can be measured or assessed. The benchmark crudes function as an index and provide a high level of transparency to investors and other market participants. The following are a few key criteria important to benchmark crudes.
Liquidity
Benchmark crudes have a significant amount of liquidity in the market. Prices can be obtained for both Brent and WTI virtually 24 hours per day, ...
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