Brent crude or Brent blend:
It is a crude oil used as a standard for pricing two-thirds of global oil production, especially in European and African markets. Brent consists of an oil mixture from 15 different fields in the Brent and Tinian regions in the North Sea, some of which are located in Britain and others in Norway.He has derived The name Brent comes from a nickname given by Shell to an oil field it investigated in the North Sea region. Shell used to name oil fields after birds, so it named the region after Brent geese.The name Brent is also a derivation of the names of geological layers. The four components of the field are Broome, Rannoch, Ness and Tarbet.
Types of oil:
Brent crude oil is considered a light, non-acidic (sweet) type of oil due to its specific gravity of 38 (which is why it is described as light) and the low sulfur percentage of 0.37% (which is why it is described as sweet), which makes it one of the finest types of oil in the world. Their number reaches 160 species. Brent is considered an ideal type of oil for producing gasoline and heating fuel.The price of crude increases as its density and acidity decrease, and the production of light, sweet oil represents approximately 40% of global production, while heavy and medium types of oil represent the remaining 60%.Although European countries consume most of the production of Brent crude oil, it is sometimes exported to the United States and some African countries.Given the large number of types of oil, it was agreed among traders in the crude markets to choose specific types that would serve as a standard for quality. On the basis of it, the value of petroleum commodities is increased or decreased. The types of oil chosen are: Brent crude, American light oil (also called West Texas Intermediate crude), Dubai crude, Tapis crude from Malaysia, and Minas crude from Indonesia.
Pricing metrics:
These standard crudes - such as Brent and West Texas Intermediate - are used to help price various types of oil in the world, and pricing is based on how different the latter is from the standard crudes, and how far they are from the markets for these crudes.Historically, the differences between the prices of Brent crude and other types of oil are based on physical differences related to the structure of those crudes, differences between the balances of demand and supply in the short term, and the state of oil reserves.Before September 2010, the difference in price was close to or exceeded three dollars per barrel between Brent crude and On the one hand, and between American light crude oil and the basket of crudes of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on the other hand, except that after the fall of 2010, Brent was priced with a greater difference than American crude, reaching more than $11 in 2011.The difference between Brent crude amounted to American crude oil peaked in August 2012 at about $23 before it declined by September 2012 to about $18, and the difference - in 2015 - reached only three dollars.Among the factors that control the size of the difference between Brent prices And US crude: the impact of speculation, the performance of the US currency, and global demand variables. Political decisions also have a role in this matter, in addition to the depletion that threatens Brent crude reserves is one of the factors that explain the price difference between the two crude oils.
Dr. Engineer Mustafa Al-Masry
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