WTI Midland Crude

What WTI Midland is

West Texas Intermediate is a quality specification, not one field. Price reporting agencies call spot trades delivered at Cushing, Oklahoma, "WTI" and trades at Midland, Texas, "WTI Midland". Midland sits in the middle of the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico, the largest oil-producing region in the United States. See US oil production for output data.

The crude is light and sweet, close in quality to the NYMEX WTI specification of 37–42° API and less than 0.42% sulfur. Its main difference from WTI Cushing is location. Midland is linked by pipeline both north to Cushing and, more importantly, southeast to the export terminals of Corpus Christi and Houston.

The Midland-Cushing spread

The spread between WTI Midland and WTI Cushing reflects pipeline capacity out of the Permian:

• When pipelines are full, crude backs up in West Texas and Midland trades at a discount, sometimes a large one. Producers must accept less to move barrels by truck or onto spare capacity.
• When pipeline capacity is ample, Midland trades close to Cushing, separated mainly by transport tariffs.
• When export demand is strong, Midland can trade above Cushing because it is closer to the coast. That happened in 2026: the IEA reported the WTI Houston-Midland spread at a six-year high of over $2/bbl in March, reflecting strong export demand as Asia-Pacific buyers replaced Middle East crude.

Gulf Coast export pricing

Most exported US crude is WTI Midland or a similar Permian light sweet stream, shipped from Corpus Christi and Houston. Export cargoes are typically priced off one of three references:

1. WTI futures plus a Gulf Coast differential, for FOB sales at the US coast.
2. Dated Brent, for cargoes delivered into Europe, where WTI Midland competes directly with North Sea grades.
3. Dubai or Brent-linked formulas, for cargoes delivered into Asia.

The difference between Brent and WTI is the export arbitrage. When the Brent-WTI spread is wider than the cost of pipeline transport plus freight, exports rise.

Why WTI Midland joined the Dated Brent basket

North Sea production has been falling for decades, which reduced the number of cargoes available to set Dated Brent and raised the risk of squeezes. At the same time WTI Midland had become one of the most common light sweet grades arriving in Rotterdam. In June 2022 S&P Global Platts confirmed it would include WTI Midland in Dated Brent from June 2023 cargo deliveries after a market consultation. Cargoes could be bid and offered in the Platts Market on Close process from the first publishing day of May 2023.

Key features of the methodology:

• WTI Midland is assessed CIF Rotterdam, not at a US port, because that is where it competes with North Sea crude.
• Platts deducts a freight value to convert it to a virtual FOB North Sea price, using an average of routes from the five North Sea loading ports (Sullom Voe, Hound Point, Sture, Teesside and Mongstad).
• The netback value is compared with Brent, Forties, Oseberg, Ekofisk and Troll. Whichever grade is cheapest sets Dated Brent.

As a result, US production now feeds directly into the world's main benchmark. A Permian pipeline outage, a Gulf Coast hurricane or a jump in transatlantic freight can move Dated Brent through WTI Midland. More on the basket is on the Dated Brent page.

WTI Midland in 2026

The IEA's May 2026 report showed WTI CIF Rotterdam averaging a $14.23/bbl premium to Dated in April 2026, up $9.53 from March, as European refiners competed for non-Gulf barrels. WTI Cushing itself averaged $21.73/bbl below Dated in April, although WTI differentials gained about $7/bbl during the month. For the US benchmark itself, see the WTI crude oil price page.