Behind the oil price: The price we see quoted daily is for a kind of oil known as West Texas Intermediate (WTI). But there is no such thing as a tradable quantity of WTI because most of it has been taken out of the ground. So now the WTI means light sweet crude product delivered from any pipeline or storage facility with pipeline access to TEPPCO, Cushing storage, or Equilon Pipeline Co., by in-tank transfer, in-line transfer, book-out, or inter-facility transfer (pumpover).

WFT does that shit mean? It means that the real definition of West Texas Intermediate is conjured up from all other light blends. The original WTI was a low sulpher content crude, known as light crude. Now WTI includes all the lights produced in the Southwestern U.S.----

Specific domestic crudes with 0.42% sulfur by weight or less, not less than 37° API gravity nor more than 42° API gravity. The following domestic crude streams are deliverable: West Texas Intermediate, Low Sweet Mix, New Mexican Sweet, North Texas Sweet, Oklahoma Sweet, South Texas Sweet.

Plus U.K. Brent and Forties, and Norwegian Oseberg Blend, for which the seller shall receive a 30¢-per-barrel discount below the final settlement price; Nigerian Bonny Light and Colombian Cusiana are delivered at 15¢ premiums; and Nigerian Qua Iboe is delivered at a 5¢ premium.

The above means that if you take Nigerian you pay five cents per barrel more than the posted WTI price. So WTF should we look at? Currently North Sea Brent is a crude product undiluted and is really the best clue as to the price of oil. But the specifics for any product traded on the NYMEX can be adjusted.