US Energy Agency Adopts Brent, Drops US Crude
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100288894/US_Energy_Agency_Adopts_Brent_Drops_US_Crude
7 Dec 2012
The U.S. government’s energy agency has adopted North Sea Brent crude as its benchmark for oil forecasts, dropping its domestic benchmark, saying it no longer reflects the price paid for oil by U.S. refineries.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its annual energy outlook it was abandoning West Texas Intermediate (WTI), traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange , and switching to Brent on the Inter Continental Exchange (ICE).
The move by the U.S. Department of Energy’s energy forecaster reflects a migration of large parts of the oil market to Brent and away from WTI over the last year.
“This change was made to better reflect the price refineries pay for imported light, sweet crude oil and takes into account the divergence of WTI prices from those of globally traded benchmark crudes such as Brent,” the EIA outlook said.
The agency said WTI prices had “diverged from other benchmark crude prices because of insufficient pipeline capacity to move crude oil to and from Cushing, Oklahoma”, the location at which WTI prices are quoted.
Doesn't appear the people in Chicago are worried