Financially settled Brent and Oman to join benchmark Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract

London - February 19, 2008: The Dubai Mercantile Exchange Limited (DME) today announced that it will launch two new financially settled contracts for Brent and Oman crude oil in the very near future, subject to obtaining regulatory approvals. This follows the successful launch of the Exchange's benchmark Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract last year amid record volumes and open interest in January.

Speaking in London to an audience of leading industry participants at the first in a series of international seminars held by the DME, Chief Executive Gary King unveiled the terms and conditions of the DME's new Brent Crude Oil Financial Contract and Oman Crude Oil Financial Contract. Both of these new futures contracts will be traded electronically on DME Direct™, the Exchange's electronic trading system.

"These two new contracts were designed after extensive consultation with our global customers," said Mr King. "While they are delighted that our Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract has established itself as the global benchmark for Middle East sour crude, they also told us that they wanted to be able to trade multiple financially settled crude oil benchmarks on one common platform yet still linked to the validity of pricing of the underlying physical contract.

"When the contracts are launched, traders will have the essential tools for making a commonly traded over-the-counter transaction, the spread between two sweet and sour crude oil benchmarks, on DME Direct™. We are confident that these new contracts will prove as successful as our flagship physically delivered Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract and greatly add to overall liquidity and price transparency."

The DME's new Brent contract will be cash-settled against ICE's Brent Crude Futures Contract, while its new Oman contract will be cash-settled against the DME's benchmark Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract.

In addition to being cleared at the NYMEX Clearinghouse, the new contracts will also be available for block trading, recently introduced by the DME, Exchange for Physical (EFP) and Exchange for Swap (EFS) trades, using NYMEX's ClearPort® Clearing.

The DME also announced that it will delist its Brent-Oman Financial Spread Contract (QN) and WTI-Oman Financial Spread Contract (QW) upon launch of the new contracts.

Mr King added: "I am especially delighted to be making this announcement during International Petroleum Week, the largest event of its kind in Europe. This is a truly international event and we have decided to launch the DME's seminar series here to update the industry on the latest developments at the Exchange. The response has been tremendous and we continue to be encouraged by the industry's consistent support for the DME."
DME's listing of any new contracts is subject to approval by the Dubai Financial Services Authority. All clearing and settlement services to be provided by the New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. for new contracts are also subject to final regulatory approval.