Despite the oil industry being arguably the most vital and influential sector in the world, the average member of the public knows relatively little about its inner workings. Oil prices are possibly the most obvious example of this, with constant discussions over whether they will drop below $40 or if they are set to rise. What many investors are unaware of, however, is that there are over a thousand types of crude oil. This means that Western Canadian Select, currently trading at 37.27, is already below that much-hyped $40 mark, and while Brent oil prices fell nearly 50 cents on Thursday, Qatar’s Marine blend was up by a dollar.
From the giant Daqing oil field in China, to the offshore Girassol oil field in Angola, oil is produced around the world at differing levels of quality and with varying costs. A barrel of Alaskan North Slope will cost you nearly $50 in today’s market, while Ecuador’s Napo crude is currently trading at less the $40. And all of this oil then battles for market share across the globe – a recent example being India’s decision to start buying U.S. crude in order to replace the OPEC imports that have been growing increasingly expensive.
As you can imagine, this data is incredibly valuable for everyone from oil traders to geopolitical analysts – and as such, it has been bought up and sold for tens of thousands of dollars by major data providers.
But those days are now over…
Oilprice.com readers now have total access to the oil industry’s most valuable information - shining a light on the corners of the oil markets that were previously hidden from 99.9 percent of investors and energy enthusiasts.
By Josh Owens of Oilprice.com
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