Physical crude is rarely sold at a flat number. Most cargoes price off a benchmark plus or minus a differential, fixed by formula.
Brent
The most widely used global benchmark, based on light sweet North Sea crude. Futures trade as ICE Brent; the physical reference is the Dated Brent assessment, used for official prices across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
WTI (West Texas Intermediate)
The US light sweet benchmark. The NYMEX (CME) contract is physically delivered at Cushing, Oklahoma, so Cushing inventories and pipeline constraints feed straight into the price.
Dubai / Oman
The medium sour benchmark for Middle East barrels moving to Asia; official selling prices for Asian destinations are generally set against this complex. Abu Dhabi’s Murban has also established itself as a separate futures benchmark.
Formula pricing
Pricing as “benchmark ± differential” — e.g. “Dated Brent + USD 1.20/bbl”. The differential reflects quality (API, sulfur), destination, freight and supply-demand; national oil companies publish monthly official selling prices (OSPs) in this form.
Price assessment
Where no exchange settlement exists, physical and product cargoes price off assessments published by price reporting agencies, derived from deals and bids observed in a defined daily window. These are judged observations, not exchange trades.
This reference explains published industry norms and standards. It does not replace the terms of an individual contract, nor legal or tax advice — and it carries no prices; the price board does that.