Environment & Energy | Tuesday 31 March, 2015 11:13 am |

DME announced today that it has now reached the 8 billion barrel mark, with a total of 8 million contracts (eqv. 8 billion barrels) traded on the exchange.
The increased interest in DME’s value proposition driven by new members from Asia and their participation has contributed to the Exchange’s trading performance and enabled it to hit this new milestone in March 2015, despite the current challenging conditions for the global oil markets. This achievement reinforces DME Oman's position as the most credible trading benchmark for the Asian crude oil markets. The DME Oman contract currently is the largest physically delivered crude oil futures contract in the world.
“As the only exchange capable of bridging the most significant global crude oil corridor between the Middle East and Asia, the DME’s central role in providing a fair price discovery mechanism for crude oil heading east through the DME Oman contract, especially during these volatile times, has never been more important,” said Christopher Fix, Chief Executive Officer of DME. “The DME has developed a great deal of trust among customers in Asia due to its transparent trading mechanism and strong regulation. This in turn has helped the Exchange to register this impressive performance of reaching the 8 billion barrels traded milestone.”
“The growth of the Asian derivatives market and the increased appetite for risk management and hedging has also benefitted the DME,” said Mr. Fix. “The Exchange looks forward to establishing a closer relationship with our expanding Asian customer base in order to maintain our upward trajectory in terms of trading growth.”




About DME
DME is the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East. It aims to provide oil producers, traders and consumers engaged in the East of Suez markets with transparent pricing of crude oil.
Launched in 2007, DME has rapidly grown into a globally relevant exchange. Its flagship Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract (DME Oman) contract is now firmly established as the most credible crude oil benchmark relevant to the rapidly growing East of Suez market. Reflecting the economics of the Asian region like no other contract, and the largest physically delivered crude oil futures contract in the world, DME Oman is the world’s third crude oil benchmark and the sole benchmark for Oman and Dubai exported crude oil.
DME is a fully electronic exchange, with regulatory permissions allowing access from more than 20 jurisdictions, including the major financial centers of Asia, Europe and the United States. The Exchange is located within the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), a financial free zone designed to promote financial services within the UAE. The DME is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority and all trades executed on the DME are cleared through and guaranteed by CME Clearing.
DME is a joint venture between Dubai Holding, Oman Investment Fund and CME Group. Global financial institutions and energy trading firms including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Shell, Vitol and Concord Energy also hold equity stakes in the DME. www.dubaimerc.com