Crude Oil Futures Market - Sweet Crude Oil - Light Sweet Crude Futures

Crude Oil Futures Trading Contracts

WTI = light sweet crude of high quality. Price quotes come from Cushing Oklahoma where a distribution network harbors pipelines to production points and refineries for North America that form a delivery point. A benchmark for futures oil contracts at NYME.

Brent Blend – Of various North Sea crude. Less light and sweet than WTI, though still considered a sweet oil that is received and processed by European refineries. Traded on the ICE (formerly the ‘International Petroleum Exchange’)

Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange has plans to open oil futures contracts by the year 2009. Which is intended to better assist Chinese markets.

OPEC – The Organization of Petroleum producing countries, represents two-thirds of the worlds output. Thereby controlling much of the worlds crude production, even though offshore developments in the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico acted to offset this.

In the United States, among the supply factors are whether or not drilling bans will be lifted both offshore and on, and if and how U.S strategic reserves are accessed. However, in a climate of high oil crude oil prices and slowing economy, like the first two quarters of 2008, less oil tends to be consumed (per 8.14.08 - the sharpest drop since 1982), In-turn, demand at the pump can drive lower set-prices, fleetingly or not.

Also heating oil processed from crude – generally from the months of October through March can spur on demand (see heating oil futures) particularly in the snowbelt regions and where coldest.

Production capacities, interruptions in supply and distribution, and geopolitical implications remain other important influences

..........................................

Our Oil Futures Symbols give rundowns of symbols and where traded.