Spot price and future price for Brent and WTI markers: Behavior and determinants (1998-2008)

The dynamics of oil prices in the past few years and their vertiginous rise observed during 2008 have captured the attention of academia and governments. This paper proposes an analysis of the petroleum market, making emphasis in the crude benchmarks WTI and Brent, the world reserves distribution, production levels, and the comprehension of the ratio and the mechanisms of the term or future contracts. The attempt at proposing a thorough research needs two types of analysis: fundamental and financial technical. It was found that the causes of the oil price increases are multiple and, among them, the speculative component has probably been the most incisive.