The head of the world’s biggest oil trading company has called for immediate and far-reaching reform of Brent, the oil marker for more than half of the world’s internationally traded crude oil supplies.
The comments by Vitol chief executive Ian Taylor mark the latest intervention in a debate about the effectiveness about Brent, which critics claim is a “broken” benchmark.
Mr Taylor said Brent – the international crude benchmark – was becoming less “efficient” because North Sea oil supplies were dwindling and an increasing number of cargoes were being shipped to Asia.
“As an industry we have a major problem that we have to solve,” Mr Taylor told International Petroleum Week, an industry conference in London. He said Brent should be widened to include grades from west Africa, Kazakhstan, Algeria and possibly Russia and even the US.
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