BRENT BLEND

A type of sweet crude oil that is used as a benchmark for the prices of other crude oils. Brent blend is most often found in parts of the North Sea off the coast of the U.K. and Norway. Brent blend makes up more than half of the world's globally traded supply of crude oil, which is why it makes an obvious choice for the benchmark of crude oil.

As previously mentioned, the brent blend is a mix of crude oil from several facilities in the Ninian and Brent fields on the North Sea. Much like the other internationally recognized benchmark for crude oil, West Texas Intermediate, the Brent blend is a light and sweet crude oil, though not as light or sweet as WTI. Brent futures are traded on both the ICE and NYMEX exchanges, with delivery dates for all 12 months of the year.