What Is West Texas Intermediate?

WTI stands for West Texas Intermediate (Crude Oil), and the United States West Texas Light Crude Oil is a more common type of crude oil in North America. Due to the US military and economic capabilities around the world, WTI crude oil has become the benchmark for global crude oil pricing. In order to unify the domestic crude oil pricing system, the United States uses WTI crude oil contracts listed on the NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange) as the pricing benchmark. Crude oil, along with the US dollar and food, are the three main means by which the United States influences and controls the global economy and financial markets.

wti

(West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil)

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a vocabulary translated into English from West Texas Intermediate. Also known as Texas Light Sweet ^[1]

The internationally influential benchmark crude oil is also European Brent crude oil, and the price of Brent crude oil is also the Brent crude oil contract listed on the ICE (Intercontinental Exchange). Brent crude oil follows the trend of WTI crude oil for most of the time, and deviates from or affects WTI oil prices for a few times. In addition, Dubai's Oman crude oil, Asia's Tapis crude oil, and African Bonny crude oil are regional benchmark crude oils, but because they have less influence and follow WTI and Brent crude oil most of the time, they are rarely used as references.

The US government controls the price of WTI crude oil futures contracts in a variety of ways, including the regular energy data of the US Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Information Administration (EIA) every Wednesday, and the weekly position report of the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission). Since 2008, WTI prices have diverged significantly from the spot market. It caused dissatisfaction among international crude oil spot traders and threatened to abandon WTI pricing. Saudi Arabia at the end of 2009 proposed to abandon WTI pricing and change to OPEC's package of oil prices. However, in the short term, WTI is like the US dollar, and despite its controversy, its dominance remains unshakable.