A number of us have discussed the recent disparity of WTI (US based crude) price and Brent. My opinion that it was a US based manipulation effort was just that an opinion. Now

We now have an independent Rob Kirby gives us this:
I’ve been trying to resolve what’s behind the recent inversion of the historic premium that West Texas Intermediate [WTI] Crude Oil has enjoyed versus Brent Crude? Historically, West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil trades at a premium price to Brent Crude Oil for quality as well as logistical reasons. In recent weeks and months – WTI has been trading at a deep discount to Brent Crude:

From an historical perspective, this price disparity pictured above is BACKWARDS. There is a reason:

Recently, I shared with my subscribers some unusual machinations which are acknowledged to have occurred by the U.S. Dept. of Energy [DOE] back in May / June 2008 – from the DOE 2008 annual report:

The excerpt above illustrates that the DOE stopped filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve [SPR] as of last June [2008] – an activity that had been underway – more or less continuously – since 1999.

But the above excerpt says more than just that; it specifically states that,

“Oil from the MMS offshore leases has been exchanged for other crude oil”

The “exchange” cited in the aforementioned quote above is also known as an “OIL SWAP.”

And:
ANALYSIS-Obama oil plan may weaken U.S. emergency stockpile

Tom Doggett Reuters, Aug 07, 2008 11:43 EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's plan to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve may lower crude and gasoline prices in the short term, but it could also leave the United States more vulnerable in a supply emergency.

Obama called this week for easing fuel prices by releasing some 70 million barrels of light, sweet crude from the nation's stockpile and swapping it for less expensive heavy, sour oil.

The hope is that putting more oil on the market will push down crude prices and those savings will be passed on to consumers at the gasoline pump.

Cheaper crude would make it more profitable for refiners to make gasoline, diesel fuel and heating oil, and encourage them to produce more of those petroleum products. The additional supplies would lower the prices for the fuels.

"Would it bring down prices initially? Sure," said Sarah Emerson, managing director of Energy Security Analysis Inc, a Massachusetts-based consulting firm. "It's more supply and the price will go down."

Obama says releasing oil from the reserve is meant to provide short-term relief for consumers, and is not a long-term solution to the nation's energy problems……

From all of this evidence – and yes it is EVIDENCE – it is now highly likely that after failing to gain legal authority to utilize sweet crude in the SPR – DESPERATE authorities – who, no doubt will wrap themselves in the flag and claim they acted in the name of National Security – DID CONDUCT oil swaps. The timing of all these events lines up perfectly with the Waterfall decline in oil prices:

The smoking gun is the counter intuitive “lingering wide price discrepancy” with West Texas Intermediate trading at a big discount to Brent Crude Oil.

WTI used to trade at a premium to brent and was reported to be primarily intended for the US market. The difference being to account for transportation costs to move brent from source to destination. What we surmised seems to be a common observation amung many more sophisticated in the oil markets.