Rise in US crude oil production and emergence of new North American oil price indicators

Abstract

Recent changes in the international crude oil market are bound to have an impact on the crude oil pricing system. Emergence of new price indicators is currently most active in North America due to the boom in US crude oil production. Th e most effective of the emerging price indicators has objective possibilities for turning into a full-fledged benchmark, which will become the starting point for assessing the value of other grades of oil. Despite the fact that the two largest world commodity exchanges (CME and ICE) and leading price agencies (Argus and Platts) play a key role in the formation of a new price indicator, much will depend on the prospects for the physical oil market and changes in the transport and logistics infrastructure of fuel and US energy complex. This article focuses on the transformation of the WTI crude oil market and is a part of a series of publications on crude oil pricing launched in the March 2019 issue of the Russian Foreign Economic Journal.