The 15-Day Brent crude oil market is so-called because a seller must give a buyer a minimum 15 days notice of the intended loading dates for a cargo of Brent Blend North Sea crude oil in any particular month traded. 15-Day Brent is traded in discreet months. At the point where the buyer—who may be at the end of a long trading chain—is informed of the loading dates, the cargo becomes a so-called Dated Brent cargo.

The Dated Brent price is a benchmark assessment (Platts’) of the price of physical light North Sea crude oil. It refers to the physical cargoes of crude oil in the North Sea that have been assigned specific delivery dates. This is the typical crude oil price reference value