U.S. Crude Joins Biggest Oil Benchmark

Starting today, U.S. oil will be part of the Brent crude basket that underlies the world's most traded benchmark contract. It will be the first non-European grade included in the basket, highlighting the change that the U.S. shale revolution brought about for the global oil market. "Since the restart of U.

S. crude exports in 2015, WTI Midland has become a baseload grade for European refiners and a core part of the North Sea oil market,"  Vera Blei, who is in charge of oil market price reporting at S&P Global Platts, said in 2020. At the…