February sees highest monthly trading, best average daily volume and busiest day in exchange's history

The Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), the leading energy futures exchange in the Middle East, today continued its historic start to 2012 with the announcement of three new trading records:

- Total Monthly Traded Volume – 107,565 contracts, a 12.5% increase over the previous high

February 2012 saw the Exchange trade the highest number of DME Oman Crude Oil Futures (DME Oman) contracts in one month with a new record total of 107,565 contracts, equivalent to approximately 108 million barrels or 25% of total Arabian Gulf crude oil exports to the East.

- Average Daily Volume (ADV) – 5,378 contracts, an increase of 21.5% over the previous record

The Exchange recorded its highest ever Average Daily Volume (ADV) at 5,378 contracts.

- Single Day Volume Record – 10,142 contracts, 25.6% more than ever previously traded in a single day

To complete the trio of new highs, the DME enjoyed the single busiest day in its history on February 15th, with a record 10,142 contracts traded.

These achievements follow a number of positive announcements from the DME indicating that the Exchange’s strategy of bringing fair, liquid, transparent and physically linked oil pricing to the East of Suez market is succeeding.

DME Chairman, Ahmad Sharaf, said: “February was a very exciting month for the DME and I am delighted that our success in securing the recapitalisation of the Exchange is being mirrored in such positive trading volume increases. With the new level of investment we have received from our partners, our ability to address the growing market need for price discovery of sour crude oil destined for East of Suez markets will ensure that we continue to attract new customers and deliver impressive performance figures such as those we are announcing today.”

DME CEO, Thomas Leaver, added: “At a time when some parts of the Middle East are continuing to experience levels of uncertainty at the geopolitical level, the stability and security provided by the Dubai Mercantile Exchange ensure that our customers can confidently trade and risk manage their crude oil supply and delivery East of Suez, the world’s largest oil supply-demand corridor and fastest growing commodities market.

“Our ability to deliver fair, efficient and transparent pricing, backed by the physical supply of Oman Crude Oil, makes us the leading energy futures exchange in the Middle East. That is why we are experiencing such significant growth in volumes.  We look forward to the DME continuing to break records throughout 2012 and beyond and thank our members and customers for their continued support.”

The DME was launched in June 2007 with the goal of bringing fair and transparent price discovery and efficient risk management to East of Suez, the world’s fastest growing commodities market and the largest crude oil supply/demand corridor in the world. Today, DME Oman is the explicit and sole benchmark for Oman and Dubai crude oil Official Selling Prices (OSP), the historically established markers for Middle East crude oil exports to Asia Pacific.

For more information, please contact:

Manash Bhuyan at FTI Consulting, Dubai on [email protected] or +971 50 841 9631
Sean Galvin at FTI Consulting, London on [email protected] or +44 7788 568 245
Heather Astbury at DME on [email protected] or +971 50 652 3754