Quote from rubibond007:
The Physical settle brent at ICE is a OTC market.
The Brent Futures contract is a Cash settle contract.
There is a lot of money to be made on this IF you have a Deep Pocket.
let me explain something, WTI minus dated Brent should be roughly equal to the freight rate, for that reason in a normal market the crude-oil prices usually depend on two things: quality and location. The greater the distance from the major exporters, the greater the price, That's why the Brent crude costs $1-$2 less than WTI crude.
Brent and WTI at Cushing, Okla are really of similar quality. But Brent has traded at discount to similar crude in the U.S. because oil from the Middle East or Africa costs less to ship to Europe than it does to the U.S.
That's Why is so important to watch the freight market when you trade de Brent/WTI spread.. Normaly, when the freight rates drops, then a lot of physical traders and countries start importing massive quantities of Brent and the spread between the Brent vs the WTI go in a contango, Right Now the Freight rates are in a bull situation, So what you are seeing right now with this spread is a Huge basis trading game.
Nymex crude is out of whack with the realities of global demand, Brent crude is more of a reflection of worldwide demand right now.
IF the WTI/BRENT goes into a contango (its 23 cents away from that), Then I recommend you to avoid the front-end contracts and position yourselve in the longer-dated contracts and hedge the spread with a long position in WTI contango.
BTW: The IPE index right now is just a tool to make some money "underbeneath the table"..
Good post rubibond007.
In the mid 1990s I saw an internal report written by an analyst at a major oil firm voicing concern regarding the forecasted production decline in Brent crude oil and the potential problems with cargo pricing that could occur as a result.
Late last year I was on a website called "European Tribune" and I came across the following in the "comments" section:
"Certainly the decline in Brent crude oil production led eventually to the Brent 15 day market becoming an accident waiting to happen, and there was a squeeze practically every other month as the number of cargoes available for trading declined and the depth of pockets necessary for squeezes fell."
Do you agree with the commenter's assessment and, if so, would this not have some impact on the WTI - Brent spread?
Thanks.
