EMEA News
Shifting Market Dynamics Prompt Brent Rethink
The increase in crude oil exports from the US could pave the way for a global crude oil pricing benchmarks rethink, price reporting agency Argus Media has said.
The Argus-controlled WTI Houston crude oil price benchmark is recording significantly higher export volume with greater market penetration of the European oil market, the Argus Crude and Refined Products forum heard.
"The basic trend is for the US is to play a bigger role in global oil markets," Euan Craik, Argus Media's CEO Americas, told the forum.
At the same time, the volume of crude oil underpinning the global oil benchmark of Dated Brent is in decline with the closure of the Brent oil field in the North Sea the latest chapter in this story.
Argus said that it has been running its New North Sea Dated price, which is based on a range of indicators including WTI and Brent, over the last year.
"Debate around the future of Brent is drifting towards this sort of proposal," James Gooder, vice president for crude oil in European and Africa, said.
And he added that it is "one way to make [the] Brent [benchmark] sustainable long after the Brent field has stopped production and the oil rigs have been towed away".
Argus Media oil forum was held in London on 25 February.
