A grade of crude oil used as a major benchmark for oil pricing globally, particularly in North America. WTI is a light, sweet crude with low density and low sulphur content, making it relatively inexpensive to refine into gasoline and other products. It is traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) as a futures contract and, together with Brent crude, serves as one of the two primary reference prices for the global oil market.
Example
“WTI crude futures rose above $80 per barrel after the weekly EIA inventory report showed a larger-than-expected drawdown of 7 million barrels.”