The article proposed by the authors examines the competition between the world's leading producer countries in the context of changing the structure of global oil pricing. The global benchmarks for WTI, Brent and Dubai are the price benchmarks for all oil producing countries in the world, and all changes related to quality, production volumes and supply geography cause structural and institutional changes in the oil market. Crude oil plays an important role in the global economy not only as a commodity, but also as a financial instrument for the redistribution of income between the world’s largest financial players.