West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a light, sweet crude oil that serves as one of the main global oil benchmarks
. It is sourced primarily from inland Texas, specifically from the Permian Basin, and is considered a high-quality oil due to its low sulfur content and ease of refinement
. WTI has an API gravity of 39.6°, making it very light, and a sulfur content of 0.24%, making it very sweet
. Some key differences between WTI and Brent crude oil, another major benchmark, include:
- Extraction locations : WTI is extracted from fields located in Texas, North Dakota, and Louisiana, while Brent is extracted from the North Sea near Europe
- Oil density : WTI has an API gravity of 39.6°, making it very light, while Brent has an API gravity of 38°, which is still quite light but not as light as WTI
- Sweetness : WTI has a sulfur content of 0.24%, making it very sweet, while Brent has a sulfur content of 0.40%, which is well under the 0.50% benchmark but not as sweet as WTI
- Transportation : The WTI delivery point is Cushing, Oklahoma, while Brent is delivered to the North Sea
WTI is the underlying commodity for the New York Mercantile Exchange's (NYMEX) oil futures contract and is often compared to Brent crude, which is an oil benchmark for two-thirds of the world's oil contracts based on oil extracted in the North Sea
. While the two crude oil varieties can trade at similar price points, they have different supply and demand markets, and their prices reflect their individual market fundamentals
