WTI

Suppose two cities each run their own vegetable market with their own daily price, even though both are trading a similar product. WTI, West Texas Intermediate, is essentially America's own version of Brent, the benchmark price for crude oil produced and traded within the United States, distinct from the internationally dominant Brent benchmark.

WTI and Brent usually move in the same direction, since global oil markets are broadly connected, but the gap between them can widen or narrow based on regional supply, US export policy, and pipeline or storage bottlenecks specific to American oil infrastructure. Traders watch this WTI to Brent spread closely as its own signal about regional supply imbalances.

For most Indian purposes, Brent remains the more directly relevant benchmark since India's crude imports are priced off it, but WTI still matters as a read on US shale production trends, since the health of American shale drilling has global consequences for how tight or loose the overall oil market feels.