New Oil Price Benchmark Roils Status Quo

The most actively traded oil futures contract in the world is being challenged by a new oil benchmark that aims to better represent the mix of crude oils most often used in the U.S.

Platts, a division of McGraw-Hill(MHP Quote) and a leading publisher of energy data and analysis, is planning to launch the Americas Sour Marker, or ASM.

The ASM will be correlated with sour crude types in the Gulf Coast region instead of West Texas crude oil at Cushing, Okla., as is the West Texas Intermediate oil futures contract that is traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange. ...