What it is
A blend of light, low-sulphur crude oils from the North Sea. Its price is the reference used for most of the crude oil traded internationally, so cargoes from many other regions are priced as Brent plus or minus a difference.
How it is usually quoted
US dollars per barrel.
This is the customary unit of the reference market. Other markets for the same commodity may use another unit or currency, and an exchange can change a contract’s terms: its own rulebook is the authority.
Where the reference contract trades
ICE Futures Europe.
Named for orientation only. Naming an exchange or a market here does not mean that GIO4X gives access to it.
What commonly moves it
- Output decisions by the OPEC+ group of producers
- World economic growth and the demand for fuel that comes with it
- Crude oil and product inventories
- Conflict or disruption on shipping routes and in producing regions
- The US dollar, since oil is priced in it
These are the things people who follow this market usually watch. They explain how the market works; they do not say what the price will do next.
Where it comes from
The benchmark itself comes from fields in the British and Norwegian North Sea. The world’s largest crude producers are the United States, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Canada and Iraq.
The order of producers changes from year to year, so no quantities or shares are given here.
At GIO4X
Brent crude is one of the 7 commodities GIO4X lists as instruments. It appears as XBR/USD (Brent Crude Oil), in the Energy class. A CFD on Brent crude, the benchmark used to price most of the world’s internationally traded oil.
The contract and its published conditions are set out on the instrument page, where they are labelled as indicative. They are not repeated here.
XBR/USD instrument pageEnergy at GIO4XContract specifications
Words worth knowing
Tools for the GIO4X instrument
The calculators work on the figures you enter. They apply to XBR/USD as GIO4X lists it, not to the exchange contracts named above.
A reference page. Educational information, not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. It gives no price and no forecast.