Futures prices have delivery points. The NYMEX oil contract calls for delivery in Cushing Oklahoma while the natural gas contract calls for delivery at the Henry Hub in Louisiana. The NYMEX heating oil and RBOB gasoline have delivery in New York harbor.
The dislocation between WTI and Brent become obvious when you look at pipeline economics. The flow to Cushing cannot get out of the mid-continent given pipeline flows. Refiners closely connected to Cushing will have a significant input advantage. Refined products produced at lower cost cannot get up to the Northeast hence there is a price differential. Profits cannot be made because more expensive oil has to be imported to East coast refiners. They have started to shutdown.
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