In order to test whether Chinese crude oil futures (INE) has already played the role of futures market and whether it has had a significant impact on international benchmark market, we construct the permanent temporary model and Information Share model based on 15 min of high‐frequency trading data from March 26, 2018 to October 30, 2018 to inspect the proportions of new information in INE and Brent markets, and use the Garbade‐Silber model to measure the risk transfer effect. Furthermore, the generalised spillover index is proposed to examine the effects of return and volatility spillovers among INE, WTI and Brent futures markets. The results reveal that: firstly, during the sample period, INE is not yet a promoter of international benchmark crude oil prices, but more obvious followers. Secondly, although INE has begun to display the price discovery function, it is weaker than that of Brent, and the risk transfer function between them does not appear strong. Finally, INE market mainly acts as a net transmitter of return spillover before August 2018, but it has almost always been the net transmitter of volatility spillover during the full sample period. These findings are of interest to policy makers as well as investors for risk hedging and asset allocation of crude oil portfolios.