Platts launches WTI alternative

17/03/2009

Platts has launched a new benchmark for US crude prices that will offer an alternative to the pre-eminent West Texas Intermediate (WTI) standard.

WTI is listed on the New York Mercantile Exchange and is the most widely used indicator for crude prices in the US.

Fluctuations in WTI prices often lead to concomitant changes in other commodities trading on the bourse such as heating oil.

However, there has been growing criticism that the benchmark has been diverging from other global prices such as Brent, Ural and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket prices.

Platts has launched the American Crude Marker in a bid to address this balance and is assessing four sour crude sources in the US Mexican Gulf to develop a new price level.

However, the Financial Times reports that few analysts expect that the new marker will lay a serious challenge to WTI.