A change to the North Sea Brent crude oil futures contract will alter the way prices for Brent futures are compared to futures prices for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil. Beginning January 29, the Brent contract will expire, or rollover to the next month, approximately two to three weeks before expiration of the WTI contract for delivery in the same month. Prior to the change, the Brent contract rollover was only five to seven days ahead of the WTI rollover. With earlier expiration dates for the Brent contract, the prompt month prices for Brent and WTI represent the same delivery period on fewer days each month. For example, on Monday, February 1, the prompt Brent contract will represent crude oil deliveries in April, while the prompt WTI contract will represent deliveries in March. The mismatch will continue for most […]