What crude was the benchmark crude for the first oil futures sold on the Nymex?

• A. Brent Crude
• B. West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
• C. Dubai Crude
• D. Oman Crude

Answer: (B)

West Texas Intermediate is the benchmark crude for the first NYMEX crude futures because it offered the most reliable price discovery and trading activity in the United States. WTI is a light, sweet crude produced and concentrated in areas with well-developed pipeline and storage infrastructure, which together create a highly liquid market. The NYMEX contract was designed around WTI with physical delivery at Cushing, Oklahoma, a major storage hub, making its price a clear reference for U.S. crude prices. This combination of liquidity, well-defined delivery, and strong linkage to actual physical flow made WTI the natural benchmark for those early futures. In contrast, Brent would become the global international benchmark later on, and Dubai or Oman serve more regional markets, so they weren’t the baseline for the first NYMEX contracts.