What is WTI crude oil?

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is the underlying commodity of the New York Mercantile Exchange 's oil futures contracts. Light, sweet crude oil is commonly referred to as "oil" in the Western world. WTI is considered a "sweet" crude because it is about 0.24% sulfur, which is a lower concentration than North Sea Brent crude.

What is West Texas Intermediate (WTI)?

Key Takeaways 1 West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a light, sweet crude oil that serves as one of the main global oil benchmarks. 2 It is sourced primarily from inland Texas and is one of the highest quality oils in the world, which is easy to refine. 3 WTI is the underlying commodity for the NYMEX's oil futures contract. Plus d'articles...

What is a WTI futures contract?

The WTI futures contract formalized this relationship by specifying that the deliverable asset for the contract could be a blend of crude oil, as long as it was of acceptable lightness and sweetness. Crude oil lightness is characterized by oil gravity, and crude oil sweetness by sulfur content.

What is the difference between Brent and WTI?

The difference in price between Brent and WTI is called the Brent-WTI spread. WTI is not the most commonly used benchmark globally, that honor goes to Brent, where two-thirds of oil contracts globally use Brent as a benchmark. Both, however, are considered high-quality oils and are therefore the two most important oil benchmarks in the world.