Brent - WTI Spread Backs Off Modestly From 2012 Highs

The direction of crude oil prices recently has depended on where in the world you looked.  Notwithstanding today's rally in crude oil prices, the trend in US oil prices, using WTI as a benchmark, over the last couple of weeks has been lower.  At the same time, crude oil prices for the rest of the world, using Brent as the benchmark, have been rising.

As a result of the widening divergence between the two global crude oil benchmarks, the Brent-WTI spread has now made two higher highs in the last couple of months and just recently hit its highest levels of 2012 ($21.80).  As shown in the chart below, there isn't much in the way of resistance between here and the highs from last year at this time.

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