ETF Securities (ETFS) has expanded its Brent Crude exchange traded products offering against a background of rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
The issuer unveiled four ETPs on the London Stock Exchange, as Brent Crude’s importance as the new global benchmark for oil rises. West Texas Intermediate has been beset with local logistical issues that have seen it move to a significant discount to Brent.
The range of ETPs provide investors with long, leveraged, short and forward exposures to the Brent oil price and complement its existing offering of 1-month, 1-year, 2-year and 3-year exposures.
In a recent poll by ETFS, three quarters of respondents said they expected tensions in the Middle East to escalate while two thirds said this would occur within the first half of this year. The vast majority of these respondents also said this would impact their asset allocation decisions.
The ETFS Brent Crude oil ETPs are issued by ETFS Commodity Securities Limited, a Jersey-based special purpose vehicle.
The vehicles track the performance of the Brent Crude sub-indices of the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index, via fully funded collateralised swaps.
Exposure to Brent Crude is obtained via multiple swap counterparties, including UBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch acting through Merrill Lynch Commodities.