DME trades over 1.13bn barrels of crude in H1

The Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East, continued its growth curve in the first six months of 2014 with its flagship DME Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract (DME Oman) posting an average daily volume trading growth of over 52% with 9,143 lots per day, compared to 5,993 lots in the corresponding period last year.

Furthermore, in the process the DME Oman also broke the barrier of one million contracts traded in the first half of a year, for the first time since its launch, with over 1.13 million contracts (equivalent to 1.13 billion barrels of crude oil) traded on the exchange, DME said in a new report on its H1 performance.

DME's H1 2014 performance highlights included:

- Record volume traded: 18,922 lots on 18th February, 2014. Previous high was 16,732 lots on 21st January, 2014

- Overall DME record ADV (average daily volume): 10,764 in February 2014. Previous high was 8,162 in January 2014

- DME Oman traded above US$110 per barrel during the 5-minute settlement window on 18th June 2014

Christopher Fix, Chief Executive Officer of the DME, said: "With this continued and sustained growth over the last 12-18 months, the DME Oman contract has further consolidated its status as the Middle East’s largest physically delivered crude oil futures contract. This is our best half-year performance to date, and reflects the growing importance of the Middle East as a pricing and trading hub. DME volumes will continue to grow, and our success mirrors the success of the Middle East."

The growing interest and participation from members and customers resulting in increased trading activity, DME’s presence in Asia which has enhanced relationships with Asian customers, increased efficiency of the platform, and the recently launched Trade at Marker (TAM) mechanism for traders are some of the key contributing factors to the DME’s growing reputation as a key energy benchmark", he added

"In reality, the DME is currently the only exchange capable of bridging the expanding crude oil corridor linking the Middle East and Asia, and uniquely positioned to provide a fair price discovery mechanism for crude oil heading east especially during times when oil prices are highly volatile. Traders realize the value proposition of the DME and the continued success of our flagship contract is testimony of the confidence that global players have in the exchange", concluded Fix.

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