The world’s oil-price benchmark is being radically reformed

The price of Brent crude has a claim to be the world’s most important number. Two-thirds of the 100m barrels of oil traded each day derive their price from it. So do millions of futures contracts that buyers and sellers employ to manage risk. Some governments use the oil price to set tax rates; customers, for their part, are exposed through heating-oil and petrol prices. Dated Brent, as the benchmark is formally known, also anchors markets beyond petroleum. It sets the price for liquefied natural gas in energy-guzzling Asia. And as an indicator for economic health, it shapes the decisions of the world’s power brokers, from America’s Federal Reserve to China’s strategic planners.