据彭博新闻社2023年5月4日报道，美国原油已经对世界上最重要的石油基准产生了深远的影响，在其被纳入衡量标准后有效地设定了价格。

5月2日，源自西得克萨斯页岩的WTI米德兰原油加入了即期布伦特原油基准，以改进这个用于确定全球逾三分之二原油价格的指标。到目前为止，这种整合被证明是成功的。

英国石油公司(bp)一直在《全球大宗商品洞察》运营的一个定价窗口上以较低的水平提供6月初的等级原油。由于构成WTI基准的其他5种等级原油的价格要高得多，因此WTI米德兰原油实际上成为关键的价格制定者。

能源资讯机构在回复有关问题的电子邮件中表示：“一旦将运费调整为离岸价格，报价就具有竞争力，并有助于在评估曲线的那段时间内确定即期布伦特原油。”

WTI米德兰原油被纳入即期布伦特原油基准——传统上由北海布伦特原油、福蒂斯原油、奥塞伯格原油、埃科菲斯克原油和特罗尔原油组成的定价篮子——是该指标几十年来最重大的调整。但交易商没有预料到得克萨斯原油会这么快就设定基准，因为WTI米德兰原油的质量与埃科菲斯克原油相似，但优于通常的价格制定者福蒂斯原油。

能源资讯机构周三评估，6月初美国原油每桶溢价约33美分。这比福蒂斯原油价格每桶低30美分。

自去年爆发地缘政治冲突以来，欧洲炼油厂增加了对美国原油的购买，主要是WTI米德兰原油。根据彭博新闻社汇编的油轮跟踪数据，4月份从美国墨西哥湾到欧洲的原油日运输量有望达到170万桶，与3月份的记录相当。

过去两天，贸易巨头托克集团、bp和法国道达尔能源公司已将大约7船每船装载70万桶WTI米德兰原油送入转发链，这是该等级原油有史以来的首次出口。

转发链允许持有远期合约的交易商向另一交易商出售一批实际原油，从而在北海的纸面市场和现货市场之间建立联系。据参与市场的交易商称，美国原油被提名为即期原油，被视为其成功转型为即期布伦特原油基准的关键指标之一。

能源资讯机构表示，这些转发链货物“由一系列参与者持有，反映出新的布伦特原油评估过程具有良好的流动性”。 

李峻 编译自 油价网

原文如下：

U.S. crude sets world's most important oil benchmark for first time

U.S. oil is already having a profound impact on the world’s most important oil benchmark, effectively setting the price just after its inclusion in the measure.

WTI Midland — produced in the West Texas shales — joined the Dated Brent benchmark on Tuesday, in an effort to revamp a gauge that is used to set the price of more than two-thirds of the world’s crude. So far, that integration has proved successful.

bp Plc has been offering the grade for early June at a low level on a pricing window run by S&P Global Commodity Insights, better known by traders as the Agency. As prices of the five other grades that comprise the benchmark were much higher, WTI Midland has essentially served as the key price maker.

“once adjusted for freight to a free-on-board basis, offers were competitive and helped define Dated Brent over those days of the assessment curve,” the Agency said in an emailed response to questions.

WTI Midland’s inclusion in Dated Brent — a pricing basket traditionally made up of North Sea grades Brent, Forties, Oseberg, Ekofisk and Troll — is the most significant overhaul of the measure in decades. But traders hadn’t expected the Texas crude to set the benchmark so soon, as its quality is similar to Ekofisk, but better than Forties, the usual price maker.

European refineries have boosted their purchases of U.S. crudes, mostly WTI Midland, since the war last year. Shipments from the U.S. Gulf to Europe were poised to reach about 1.7 MMbpd in April, matching the record in March, according to tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

Trading house Trafigura Group, as well as bp and TotalEnergies SE, have put seven cargoes of WTI Midland — each about 700,000 bbl — into forward chains over the past two days, the first time ever for the grade.

Chains allow a trader with forward contracts to sell a cargo of actual oil to another trader, providing a link between the North Sea’s paper and physical markets. The nomination of the U.S. grade into forward chains is regarded as one of the key indicators of the success of its transition into the Dated Brent benchmark, according to traders involved in the market.

These chained cargoes “have been kept by a range of participants, reflecting good liquidity in the new Brent assessment process,” the Agency said.