Raymond James calls West Texas Intermediate "essentially
irrelevant" as a crude-price benchmark and crowns Brent the new king of
crude oil. The WTI inventory hub in
Cushing
,
Okla.
, is
bottlenecked, causing stocks to rise and depressing prices.
That makes Brent a
better gauge for oil-price benchmarking, Raymond James says as it rolls out its
first-ever Brent forecast. "WTI is going to be essentially irrelevant for
oil producers outside the immediate vicinity of Cushing," the bank says in
an investors note. Brent is now "the undisputed champion of crude-price
benchmarks."