Brent crude trades near $98 per barrel on Wednesday

© ООО Региональные новости

Brent crude oil, the North Sea benchmark, is trading at around $98 per barrel on Wednesday, marking a 2% decline in value.

Russian Urals crude, a blend of heavy sulfurous oil from the Urals-Volga region and light Siberian Light oil from Western Siberia, is currently priced at $87 per barrel in futures contracts.

The price difference (discount) between Brent and Urals crude stands at $8-15 per barrel.

Major trading platforms for oil include international commodity exchanges such as NYMEX (WTI, USA) and ICE (Brent, Europe), as well as regional exchanges like SPIMES (Urals, Russia) and SGX (Asia).

Trading takes place through futures and spot contracts linked to benchmark crude grades such as American WTI, European Brent, and Asian Dubai/Oman, shaping the global pricing landscape.

This overview was presented by Alexei Grishchenko, Ph.D., Professor of Operational and Sectoral Management at the Faculty of Higher School of Management, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.