After almost three years of churning bumper profits from the massive price gap between the world's two most actively traded crude oil contracts, traders, refiners, railways and investors are all asking the same question: Is the game finally coming to a close?
If WTI prices continue to move back toward Brent as pipelines come onstream, other inland crudes that remain reliant on rail to get to market will increasingly trade at a discount to WTI.
Already Bakken crude prices at Clearbrook, Minnesota, which aren't traded on an exchange, have slipped to about $90 a barrel or around $5.50 below WTI and $13 below Brent, and could have further to fall.
