West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a specific grade or mix of crude oil that is one of the main three benchmarks in oil pricing, along with Brent and Dubai Crude. It is a light, sweet crude oil that is sourced primarily from inland Texas, but oil produced from any location can be considered WTI if it meets the required qualifications. WTI is known as a high-quality oil that is easily refined because of its low density and low sulfur content, making it "light" and "sweet".

WTI is the underlying commodity of the New York Mercantile Exchanges (NYMEX) oil futures contract and is considered a benchmark in oil pricing. The WTI futures contract specifies that the deliverable asset for the contract could be a blend of crude oil, as long as it was of acceptable lightness and sweetness. The main delivery point for physical exchange and price settlement for WTI is Cushing, Oklahoma.

WTI is often compared to Brent crude, which is an oil benchmark for two-thirds of the worlds oil contracts based on oil extracted in the North Sea. While both are considered light sweet crude, they do have different trading volumes depending on each commoditys futures contract months. Even though both trade on U.S. exchanges and their prices are correlated, meaning they tend to move together, there are times when WTI is more expensive than Brent and vice versa.

In summary, WTI crude is a specific grade or mix of crude oil that is known for its low density and low sulfur content, making it "light" and "sweet." It is a benchmark in oil pricing and is the underlying commodity of the NYMEXs oil futures contract. The main delivery point for physical exchange and price settlement for WTI is Cushing, Oklahoma.