Course 04 of 20 · Crude Oil Desk Academy

Benchmarks and Physical Price Quotations

Stage A, Orientation. Level 3 of 10.

How Dated Brent, WTI and Dubai assessments are constructed, and what a published quotation actually binds a party to.

120 chapters · 11 modules · every chapter one 8 to 10 minute explainer · builds on: Course 01, Course 03

Enrol or enquire See the 120 chapters
How a chapter is sized

One chapter is one idea taken to the point of use

Each chapter is a single self-contained explainer of 8 to 10 narrated minutes, covering one idea to the point where you can use it.

Chapters run in order. Each one assumes only what the chapters before it taught, and capability belonging to a later course is named and deferred rather than half-covered.

Curriculum

11 modules · 120 chapters

Open any module for its full chapter list, in teaching order.

M0 The Anatomy of a Published Price Ch 1-11
  1. An Assessment Is a Judgement, Not a Transaction
  2. The Price Reporting Agency as an Institution
  3. Assessment, Settlement and Index: Three Different Objects
  4. The Anatomy of a Quotation Line
  5. Why a Quotation Carries a Time Stamp
  6. Flat Price and Differential in Published Form
  7. Where the Data Comes From
  8. The Reporter's Day
  9. Why Two Publishers Disagree About One Grade
  10. Who Relies on Published Crude Prices
  11. Map of the Modules Ahead
M1 What Makes a Reference Credible, and How One Fails Ch 12-23
  1. The Jobs a Reference Price Is Asked To Do
  2. Liquidity Counted Rather Than Claimed
  3. Deliverability and Physical Underpinning
  4. Representativeness: Does the Assessed Barrel Resemble Yours
  5. Transparency and the Published Methodology
  6. Governance, Oversight and Independent Assurance
  7. The Shrinking Production Problem
  8. Thin Windows and Their Consequences
  9. Concentration: When Few Hands Hold the Reference
  10. How a Reference Dies, Part One: Erosion
  11. How a Reference Dies, Part Two: Loss of Trust
  12. Reform: How a Methodology Actually Changes
M2 How an Assessment Is Constructed Ch 24-36
  1. The Window as a Design Choice
  2. Market on Close and the Discipline It Imposes
  3. What Counts as a Reportable Deal
  4. Bids, Offers and the Question of Firmness
  5. Normalisation, Part One: Bringing Deals To One Date
  6. Normalisation, Part Two: Bringing Deals To One Grade and Place
  7. Repeatability and the Trade That Is Ignored
  8. No Deals: Concluding From Bids and Offers
  9. Nothing At All: Inference and Adjacent Markets
  10. Outliers and Editorial Discretion
  11. Averaging Rules Against Editorial Conclusion
  12. Corrections, Restatements and the Number That Changes
  13. Reading a Methodology Document
M3 The North Sea Complex and Dated Brent Ch 37-48
  1. The North Sea as a Physical Market
  2. What Dated Means
  3. Programmes and the Cargo Calendar
  4. The Basket Principle
  5. Quality Adjustment Inside a Basket
  6. The Cheapest Eligible Stream Sets the Number
  7. Forming the Dated Conclusion From the Window
  8. Dated Against the Futures Contract
  9. The Forward Cargo Market Layer
  10. The Dated to Forward Bridge
  11. Widening a Basket Beyond Its Home Region
  12. Reading a North Sea Price Page
M4 WTI and the American Pricing Complex Ch 49-59
  1. A Pipeline and Tankage Market
  2. The Delivery Hub and Physical Convergence
  3. A Contract That Settles By Delivery
  4. Why an Inland Reference Decouples
  5. The Storage-Constrained Settlement
  6. An Export Quotation at the Coast
  7. Monthly Average Pricing and the Index Convention
  8. Trade Month Against Calendar Month
  9. Postings and Non-Agency References
  10. Common Stream Quality and Export Credibility
  11. Reading an American Crude Price Page
M5 Dubai, Partials and Asian Pricing Ch 60-70
  1. Why Asia Built Its Own Reference
  2. An Editorially Concluded Sour Reference
  3. The Partials Mechanism, Part One: What a Partial Is
  4. The Partials Mechanism, Part Two: Convergence
  5. The Deliverable Set Behind the Reference
  6. Alternative Delivery and Quality Premiums
  7. A Companion Grade Quoted and Exchange-Traded
  8. The Monthly Average Convention in Asia
  9. The Published Relationship Between Two References
  10. An Official Formula Built On a Published Average
  11. Reading an Asian Crude Price Page
M6 Turning a Quotation Into a Price Ch 71-82
  1. From Published Figure To Invoice Number
  2. The Pricing Period As a Set of Dates
  3. Publication Days, Holidays and Missing Dates
  4. Average of a Period Against One Day's Figure
  5. Bill of Lading Dated Pricing
  6. Before, After and Straddling the Loading Event
  7. Optional Pricing and Who Holds the Choice
  8. Naming the Figure Precisely
  9. Units, Currency and Written Conversions
  10. Rounding, Decimals and the Order of Operations
  11. When the Required Figure Does Not Exist
  12. A Worked Price Calculation End To End
M7 What a Reference Actually Obliges Ch 83-92
  1. A Figure Is Not a Promise of Availability
  2. What the Publisher Owes, and To Whom
  3. Licensing and the Right To Use a Number
  4. Discontinuation and the Fallback Gap
  5. A Methodology Change Mid-Contract
  6. A Corrected Figure After the Cash Has Moved
  7. Arguments About Which Number Applied
  8. Administration, Oversight and Regulated References
  9. When the Reference and the Physical Market Part Company
  10. Why Both Sides Reading the Same Screen Is No Defence
M8 Reading Price Information Critically Ch 93-102
  1. The Forward Curve As a Reading Skill
  2. Spot, Prompt and Forward in Published Language
  3. Assessment Ranges and What Width Signals
  4. Commentary As Evidence Rather Than Narrative
  5. Deal Tables and the Liquidity They Reveal
  6. Participation Statistics and Their Limits
  7. Historical Series and the Comparability Trap
  8. A Series That Changes Definition Underneath You
  9. Cross-Checking Against a Related Market
  10. A Price Evidence File
M9 Assessment Under Stress Ch 103-112
  1. The Thin Session In Practice
  2. A Publication Interrupted For Days
  3. A Stream Leaves the Deliverable Set
  4. A Producing Region Interrupted
  5. Sanctions and the Eligible Population
  6. A Reference Under Investigation
  7. How Window Manipulation Actually Works
  8. Detecting Distortion From Published Data
  9. The Figure That Was Correct and Useless
  10. When Your Reference Breaks Mid-Cargo
M10 Integration and Honest Limits Ch 113-120
  1. A Worked Case, Part One: Choosing the Reference
  2. A Worked Case, Part Two: The Window Turns Thin
  3. A Worked Case, Part Three: The Invoice Challenged
  4. One Parcel Against Three References
  5. A Reference Suitability Review
  6. Monitoring a Reference You Already Depend On
  7. What Assessment Methodology Cannot Tell You
  8. Where the Price Threads Continue

The brochure gives each of these 120 chapters a paragraph on what it covers and what you can do once you have worked through it.

This is course 4 of twenty

It stands alone, and it is also the entry point to the Crude Oil Desk Academy pathway.

Enrol or enquire See the whole pathway