Oil is traded each day across the world by oil refiners, wholesalers, traders, investment banks and large commercial buyers.

The price for refined product in Europe is based on cargo and barge trade on the Rotterdam spot market and closely linked to futures contracts for oil which are traded on the ICE (Intercontinental Exchange) in London and NYMEX in New York.

The daily settlement closing price for refined product is set each day by a number of international oil price vendors such as Petroleum Argus, ICIS, Reuters and Bloomberg. These prices are then published each night and usually form the basis of supply contracts.

Although customers tend to follow the price of crude oil, the fundamentals for crude are considerably different than those for refined products. Refined products are also traded in “local currencies” whereas crude is traded in US Dollars. Therefore differences in the price movements also occur due to exchange rate fluctuations.

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