A Benchmark Oil is a Crude Oil that serves as a reference price for buyers and sellers of crude oil. The most widely used benchmarks are associated with crude oil that has four common qualities: stable and ample production; a transparent, free-flowing market located in a geo-politically and financially stable region to encourage market interactions; adequate storage to encourage market development; and/or delivery points at locations suitable for trade with other market hubs, enabling arbitrage (profit opportunities) so that prices reflect global supply and demand. There are the main three West Texas Intermediate (WTI), Brent Crude, and Dubai Crude.

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