WTI

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a grade of crude oil that is widely used as a benchmark for pricing crude in North America. It is characterized as a light, sweet crude with an API gravity around 39–40 degrees and a sulfur content near 0.2–0.3 percent by weight. WTI originates from oil fields in West Texas and adjacent areas, and its primary delivery point for futures is Cushing, Oklahoma.

WTI serves as the reference price for U.S. crude and is widely quoted in North American markets. The principal futures contract is NYMEX WTI Crude Oil futures, traded on the CME Group exchange, with delivery at Cushing. The price is influenced by domestic production levels, storage capacity at Cushing, refinery demand, and broader market conditions. Because of its quality and the logistics of delivery, WTI is commonly used to price many physical crudes and is a standard benchmark for U.S. crude oil.

In global markets, WTI is often discussed alongside Brent Crude, the other leading benchmark. While Brent serves as a global benchmark, WTI prices frequently influence regional pricing and are used by traders, producers, and refiners to hedge and price physical barrels in the United States. WTI has played a central role as a North American benchmark since the 1980s, with its futures market providing a transparent reference price for crude oil within the region.