What is Dated Brent?
Platts Dated Brent is a benchmark assessment by S&P Global Commodity Insights of the price of physical, light North Sea crude oil. The term "Dated Brent"refers to physical cargoes of crude oil in the North Sea that have been assigned specific delivery dates.
Each dated cargo of crude oil is often traded more than once as it makes its way to delivery to refineries -- where crude is transformed into products like gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and more.
Our analysis of trading activity culminates in the publication of the Platts Dated Brent benchmark --our daily assessment of the price of Dated Brent in the North Sea crude marketplace.
Dated Brent is a critical component of the Brent Complex, which includes the trading of physically delivered oil like Dated Brent and cash BFOE (Brent-Forties-Oseberg-Ekofisk), as well as financially settled derivatives like Brent Futures, Contracts for Differences (CfDs), Dated-to-Frontlines (DFLs) and a variety of other derivatives.
Taken as a whole, the Brent Complex helps those active in the North Sea crude market to manage the flow of crude oil from well-head to refinery, and manage price risk along the way - not just in crude oil, but also for correlated refined oil products, natural gas, gas liquids and condensates.
Price indicators from the Brent Complex are increasingly used as a reference for measuring the value of crude oils all around the world, and often of global economic health itself.
