Commodity Online
DUBAI : Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) jointly announced Monday that from first quarter 2009 onwards DME’s contracts will exclusively trade electronically on the CME Globex platform.
Transition will enable world’s three crude oil benchmark products to trade on the same platform.
CME Group, the world’s largest and most diverse exchange, and the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange based in the Middle East said the CME Globex platform offers virtually around the clock access to the broadest array of derivatives products in every major asset class in more than 85 countries and foreign territories worldwide.
The transition of the DME Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract (OQ) to CME Globex enables the world’s three crude oil benchmark products to trade on the same platform.
The DME Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract is increasingly recognized as the first successful exchange traded contract for price transparency in the East of Suez markets, joining West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent crude oil futures contracts as the world’s benchmarks for crude oil.
As growing demand from Asia continues to drive fundamentals in the oil industry, there is increasing need for a transparent mechanism to determine the price of crude imported into the region.
Listing the DME Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract and the DME Oman Crude Oil Financial Contract (ZG) on CME Globex will further increase opportunities for improved risk management by Asian refiners through sophisticated hedging strategies, as well as creating arbitrage opportunities and other advanced trading strategies for the trading community around the world.
CME Group completed its acquisition of NYMEX Holdings on August 22, 2008, creating a market with a pro forma 2007 average trading volume of approximately 14.2 million contracts per day in the first two quarters of 2008.
Customers from more than 85 countries trade CME Group products, primarily electronically. CME Group, through its acquisition of NYMEX Holdings, holds a 25 percent equity stake in DME, alongside core shareholders Tatweer, a Dubai Holding company, and the Oman Investment Fund.
A strategic investor group including leading global financial institutions and energy trading firms such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Vitol and Shell, holds a 20 per cent equity stake in the DME. The arrangement remains subject to negotiation of definitive documents and obtaining all necessary regulatory approvals.
