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The Brent Crude Benchmark Is Fit and Well
The article in EPW “Reassessing the Brent Benchmark for Crude Oil” by Akshay Mathur (21 December 2013) asserted that the price assessment process for Brent crude is too complex and, at the same time, vulnerable to manipulation. This is not the case today, following concerted efforts over the past few years to improve the way that the Brent benchmark is assessed.
Adrian Binks is chairman of Argus Media, London.
The article in EPW “Reassessing the Brent Benchmark for Crude Oil” by Akshay Mathur (21 December 2013) asserted that the price assessment process for Brent crude is too complex and, at the same time, vulnerable to manipulation. This is not the case today, following concerted efforts over the past few years to improve the way that the Brent benchmark is assessed. This evolution of the Brent benchmark over the last 30 years has been carried out through the interaction of several groups with different interests – the companies involved in purchasing and selling North Sea crude, which write the key contracts; price reporting agencies (PRAs), which independently assess and report prices; and regulated energy exchanges, which may use these physical market prices to settle financial contracts.
Complexity
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