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On July 10th, the "Guangdong Provincial Information and Communication Industry 15th Five-Year Plan (Draft for Public Comment)" was released for public comment. The plan includes actively organizing enterprises to participate in national commercial trials of satellite IoT services, planning the construction of an integrated low-Earth orbit constellation for communication, navigation, and remote sensing in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and actively promoting the deployment of key infrastructure such as satellite-to-ground interconnection centers and gateway stations. It also aims to promote the integrated development of satellite communication and terrestrial mobile communication infrastructure, explore network coverage in low-altitude airspace above 300 meters and remote areas, develop applications such as direct mobile phone connection to satellite and satellite IoT, and accelerate the realization of a million satellite communication users. The plan also includes implementing the "Broadband Guangdong Maritime" special action to gradually build a marine "5G/5G-A + submarine optical cable + satellite" communication and sensing network.The Hang Seng Tech Index rose more than 2%, with SenseTime (00020.HK) and Kuaishou (01024.HK) rising more than 4% among its constituent stocks.A spokesperson for the Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan (GPIF) said they were aware of Finance Minister Satsuki Katayamas remarks but declined to comment.On July 10th, the "Guangdong Provincial Information and Communication Industry 15th Five-Year Plan (Draft for Public Comment)" was released for public comment. The draft includes support for Shaoguans application to become a computing network hub interconnection center, promoting the upgrading and innovative development of the Guangzhou Internet Exchange Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National (Shenzhen-Qianhai) New Internet Exchange Center, accelerating the construction of the Shenzhen-Guangzhou-Shaoguan data corridor, and building a computing power network foundation radiating the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It also integrates into the national computing power interconnection system of "1+M+N," creating regional nodes for national computing power interconnection and multiple distinctive industry nodes. The plan continues to advance the "Millisecond-level Computing" special action in urban areas, actively building a benchmark city for computing networks. Furthermore, it promotes efficient collaboration between data computing, green power grids, and storage, facilitating the coordinated construction of computing centers with new energy sites and power grids, and strengthening computing power interconnection, collaboration, and intelligent scheduling.On July 10th, the "Guangdong Provincial Information and Communication Industry 15th Five-Year Plan (Draft for Public Comment)" was released for public comment. The plan outlines measures to orderly promote the large-scale deployment of 5G-A networks in the Pearl River Delta cities and continuous coverage of hotspot areas; actively participate in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technologys 6G technology trials; and take the lead in 6G network construction and commercial deployment to gain a first-mover advantage in 6G. It also calls for continuously expanding the pilot construction of 10-gigabit optical networks, achieving both quantitative and qualitative growth in key scenarios, and accelerating the upgrading of park networks. Furthermore, it promotes the large-scale deployment of new optical fibers and cables such as G.654E, focusing on the large-scale deployment of 800G optical transmission systems and all-optical cross-connect equipment to build a high-bandwidth, low-latency, and highly reliable all-optical bearer foundation. The plan also deepens the large-scale deployment of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) single-stack. Finally, it actively deploys quantum communication backbone networks and promotes the construction of 400G and above high-speed quantum channels.

WTI vs Brent: Top 5 Differences Between WTI and Brent Crude Oil

Alyssa Hertig

Oct 25, 2021 13:27

Oil is one of the most actively traded commodities in the world，it also knows as 'petroleum or crude oil' or more popularly known as 'Black Gold' in the modern world. Generally speaking, price fluctuation of crude oil closely related to political events and the economy. 

 

Top five crude oil-producing countries,1980-2019

排名前五的石油生产国.png

Photo: EIA

 

Two of the most commonly traded types of crude oil are West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent Crude. There are five main differences between WTI and Brent:

 

1.EXTRACTION LOCATION


WTI is extracted from wells in the U.S. It is primarily extracted in Texas, Louisiana, and North Dakota and is then transported via pipeline to Cushing, Oklahoma for delivery. The fact that supplies are land-locked is one of the drawbacks to West Texas crude as it’s relatively expensive to ship to certain parts of the globe. The product itself is very light and very sweet, making it ideal for gasoline refining, in particular. WTI continues to be the main benchmark for oil consumed in the United States.

 

U.S crude oil production by state 2019

美国产油州的数量.png

Photo: EIA

 

These days, “Brent” actually refers to oil from four different fields in the North Sea: Brent, Forties, Oseberg, and Ekofisk, which together are known as BFOE. Crude from this region is light and sweet, making them ideal for the refining of diesel fuel, gasoline, and other high-demand products. And because the supply is waterborne, it’s easy to transport to distant locations.

 

2. CONTENT AND COMPOSITION OF WTI AND BRENT


Brent and WTI have very different sulfur content and API gravity, which can directly affect the price of the oils.

 

While WTI has a sulfur content of 0.24%, Brent has a sulfur content of 0.37%. The lower the sulfur content of the oils the ‘sweeter’ the oil and the easier it is to refine. Both WTI and Brent are considered sweet crude.

 

The gravity of the oils is rated on a scale from 10 to 70, where the higher the number the less dense the oil. To put this in perspective, if the API is higher than 10 the oil will float on water, and if it is lower than 10 the oil will sink. Both Brent and Crude are relatively light oils.

 

On 1 January 2020, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) implemented a new regulation for a 0.50% global sulphur cap for marine fuels. Under the new global cap, ships will have to use marine fuels with a sulphur content of no more than 0.50%S against the current limit of 3.50%S to reduce the amount of sulphur oxide. The Emission Control Areas (ECAs) will remain at the 2015 standard of 0.1%S content.

 

3.DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WTI AND BRENT PRICES


In the past, WTI traded at a premium to Brent. However, due to the Shale Revolution in the early 2000s (in which WTI production increased) and more imports to the US from Canada, the price of WTI declined. It now usually trades at a discount to Brent.

 

Today WTI is the benchmark for oil prices in the US, while the rest of the world - and nearly two-thirds of all oil contracts traded - are on Brent. This makes Brent the global Benchmark.

 

The price difference between WTI and Brent is known as the WTI vs Brent Spread. The spread will change from time to time, as the supply and demand forces of each crude oil are elastic due to geopolitics, weather, and regulation.

brent wti价格差别.png 

Photo: EIA

 

4. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRADING LOCATION AND TIME


WTI futures contracts are traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), which is owned by the Chicago Mercantile Group (CME). WTI futures contracts are deliverable in Cushing, Oklahoma. Cushing is a transshipment point with intersecting pipelines and storage facilities that has easy access to refiners and suppliers.

 

Brent futures contracts are traded on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in London.

不同合约地点英文版.png 

Photo: Internet


WTI futures trading hours:

Sunday-Friday 5:00 pm to 4:00 pm Chicago Time (CT) with a 60min break each day starting at 4:00 pm CT.


Brent futures trading hours:

Sunday-Friday from 7:00 pm to 5:00 pm CT the next day.


5. GEOPOLITICAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WTI AND BRENT

Geopolitical influences - such as volatile political systems of oil-producing countries, and OPEC’s rising and falling oil production levels - can have a big impact on oil prices. Traders should know how these vary for WTI and Brent.

 

Roughly two-thirds of all crude contracts around the world reference Brent Crude, making it the most widely used marker of all. Many oil-producing countries in the world rely on oil exports to balance their fiscal budgets, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq. The political systems of these oil-producing countries are usually relatively unstable, which has a great impact on Brent crude oil, so trading Investors in Brent crude should pay more attention to the development of the situation in the Middle East.

 

WTI oil traders, similarly, will be monitoring the supply and demand factors in the U.S. Disruptions to either Brent crude or WTI crude could cause the WTI-Brent to spread to change causing one of the markets to move more aggressively relative to the other.

 

Although there are many profit-making opportunities in the crude oil market, it is also full of greater investment risks. By investing you're taking a risk, and you have to be ready for both outcomes.

 


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