Brent vs. WTI

In thinking about benchmarks, does it matter right now which oil price to refer to? Jim H. and others have noted Brent is a more appropriate benchmark for gasoline prices.

Figure 1: Log of ratio of WTI oil price to Brent oil price, % (blue, left scale), and dollar difference between WTI oil price and Brent oil price, $/bbl (red, right scale). NBER defined recession dates shaded gray. Source: EIA via FRED, and author’s calculations.

Two of Jim’s posts on Brent, here and here.