The following the table provides the crude oil breakdown in the two largest commodity indices. The total allocation to crude oil has not changed significantly, but the composition between WTI and Brent has seen a radical change in the last three years. WTI represented over three times the allocation to Brent in 2011. Now the allocation is almost equal. This is just one small indication of the structural shift in the oil market.
The US is becoming more of an energy island somewhat divorced from the rest of the world. Certainly natural gas prices in the US do not reflect global prices. With more shale oil in the system, the same can be said for WTI. Hence, the global markets is using Brent as a better benchmark.
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