Crude oil is one of the most important commodities and trading instruments in the world. Currently, there are two major crude oil types in the market, i.e., Brent oil and WTI oil. In this article, we’ll take a quick look at what WTI crude oil is and where exactly it is produced.
WTI stands for West Texas Intermediate. It is also often called Texas Light Sweet. It is a grade of crude oil used as a benchmark in oil pricing. Here “light” means low density, while “sweet” means low sulfur content (around 0.24%) in this kind of crude oil.
While Brent crude oil is produced in the North Sea area, WTI is produced in North America and is the benchmark of North America’s crude oil pricing. WTI is produced in several states of the United States (including Texas, North Dakota, etc.). It is mainly refined in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions. WTI’s main trading hub is Cushing, Oklahoma, which is also the delivery site for WTI crude oil contracts.
WTI is especially suitable for refining into gasoline and diesel. It is the underlying commodity of the New York Mercantile Exchange’s oil futures contracts. Currently (As of May 15th, 2019), WTI is trading around $61 per barrel.
related links：
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Texas_Intermediate
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/wti.asp