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This study examines for the first time the relationship among the oil price shocks and the sovereign yield spreads in the EMU (which is collectively the largest oil-importer of the world), in a time-varying environment. In particular, we examine the timevarying correlation between oil price shocks and the 10-year sovereign yield spread of core and periphery countries in the EMU, by employing a scalar-BEKK framework.The main findings reveal that the correlations between sovereign yield spreads and oil price shocks are indeed time-varying and are influenced by specific economic and geopolitical events that took place during the study period. Furthermore, even though the correlation patterns are constantly low or zero prior to the Great Recession, a change is revealed in the post-2008 period, when correlations become moderate and more volatile. Finally, we do not observe noteworthy differences in the correlation behaviour between core and periphery countries to different oil price shocks. The findings of this study are particularly useful and provide valuable information to marketplace participants.

This study examines the globalisation-regionalisation hypothesis in the WTI/Brent crude oil futures price differential by considering a set of potential determinants at 1, 3 and 6 months to maturity contracts. To this end, we employ monthly data over the period 1993:1-2016:12 for a set of crude oil-market specific (convenience yield, consumption, production) and oil-futures market specific (open interest, trading volume) determinants. Our results can be outlined as follows. First, the WTI/Brent convenience yield spread can drive a wedge between the WTI and Brent oil futures prices for the nearby month and 3-month contracts. Second, the WTI/Brent oil production spread is a significant determinant for the 1-month, 3month and 6-month to maturity contracts, while the WTI/Brent oil consumption spread is significant for the 6-month contract. Third, the WTI/Brent open interest spread appears to influence the oil futures price variability between the WTI and Brent for the 3-month and 6month contracts, while the WTI/Brent trading volume spread lends predictive power for the 1-month and 3-month contracts. Fourth, the oil futures market does not appear to be globalised in every time period. We provide evidence of a regionalised oil futures market over the short-run. Fifth, our robustness analysis lends support to the above findings. The findings of this study provide valuable information to energy investors, traders and hedgers.

Oil price forecasts have traditionally attracted the interest of both the empirical literature and policy makers, although research efforts have been intensified in the last 15 years. The present study investigates the forecasting characteristics that have the greatest impact on the accuracy level of such forecasts. To achieve this, we employ a meta-analysis approach of more than 6,000 observations of relative root mean squared errors (RRMSEs) which are pooled within a Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) method. The findings indicate that forecasting frameworks such as MIDAS and combined forecasts tend to report significantly lower forecast errors. In addition, the choice of the oil price benchmark is an important factor, with the Brent price to offer lower forecast errors. Furthermore, the short-run horizons tend to produce more accurate forecasts and the same holds for the real, instead of the nominal oil prices. A number of robustness tests confirms the validity of these results. Overall, the findings of this study serve as a guide for future oil price forecasting exercises.