Dubai, November 24, 2014 - Korea Exchange (KRX), the leading North Asian equities and derivatives operator, and the DME, the premier energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East, today announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen their cooperation in promoting the development of commodity futures contracts and in particular crude oil.

KRX and DME will work together to develop crude oil futures trading in the Republic of Korea, with a particular focus on developing an energy trading ecosystem around the National Oil Hub Project in Ulsan, Korea.

Ulsan aims to become the energy hub for Northeast Asia by developing large scale oil storage and port facilities to complement its existing petrochemical infrastructure and ports.

Dubai-based DME has substantial experience in developing financial infrastructure around a physical oil base. The exchange hosts the fast-growing DME Oman crude oil futures contract, which has the largest physical delivery of any energy contract globally. KRX and DME will also explore other areas of cooperation, including joint marketing arrangements, cross-listing agreements, staff exchange and joint research.

Kyoungsoo Choi, Chairman and CEO of KRX, said: "I am delighted to sign this cooperation agreement which marks a milestone in our relationship with DME. KRX is increasingly active in the commodity space and we are excited to work with our new partner to develop energy contracts in the run up to the commissioning of the National Oil Hub in Ulsan.”

Christopher Fix, Chief Executive of DME, said: "DME is keen to support the development of energy trading benchmarks within Asia as we believe this will be a natural complement to the DME Oman crude oil contract, which is an export benchmark for the Middle East. DME looks forward to exploring those synergies with our new partners at KRX and we are also delighted at the opportunity to get involved in the Ulsan oil hub project, which has tremendous potential.”

For more information, please contact:

Mayssam Hamadeh - Head of Marketing [email protected] or +971 506523754

Walid Majzoub - TRACCS (PR agency) on [email protected] or +971 509448389