From macro to micro: the evolution of the Brent benchmark

Over the past two decades, global crude markets have relied on a small set of key benchmarks as the main pricing tools, and in the western hemisphere, the key index crudes have been WTI and Brent. Indeed, global benchmarks are thought to reflect world supply and demand fundamentals. But since the US tight oils boom, WTI prices have been increasingly governed by the infrastructural logistics of the US Midwest and the position of WTI as an international benchmark has changed