Nymex May Tighten WTI Rules as Refiners Question Quality

The New York Mercantile Exchange may tighten specifications on the West Texas Intermediate oil contract, the U.S. benchmark, because refiners say existing rules fail to eliminate variability that can cut product yields.

The exchange supports a proposal from an industry group called the Crude Oil Quality Association to control the makeup of the light, sweet contract through added standards, New York-based Daniel Brusstar, director of energy research and product development at CME Group Inc., parent company of Nymex, said yesterday. The exchange is “hopeful” a quality assurance program will start at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the contract, in the second half of 2011, he said.