Brent Benchmark Adds Troll
The price of Brent crude has been avidly watched as the basis of comparison for crude oil prices around the world since the 1980s, but the method for assessing the Brent global benchmark crude oil price is scheduled to change in 2018. The price reflects transactions involving physical cargoes of several specific grades of crude oil from four fields in the North Sea, but declining production from these has prompted the price reporting agency, Platts, to decide to include crude oil from a fifth field in the mix from 2018.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on Thomson Reuters
Originally the benchmark was based solely on cargoes of Brent crude, but as that field declined oil from the UK Forties field and Oseberg in Norway were added in 2002, followed by Norwegian crude oil grade Ekofisk in 2007. Now an additional North Sea crude from the Troll field, about 60 km off the coast of Norway, will be included in the mix, adding about 29% more crude oil volume to the current Dated Brent (BFOE) price assessment.
