Dubai, UAE - October 6, 2010: The Dubai Mercantile Exchange Limited (DME) today announced that it has achieved the highest level of open interest for its benchmark Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract (DME Oman) since the commencement of trading on the Exchange on June 1, 2007.
As of September 30, open interest in the DME
stood at 21,797 contracts. Open interest is the
total number of outstanding futures contracts held by
market participants and is regarded as a leading
performance indicator in the industry. Open interest
in DME Oman has increased steadily since launch: the
previous total open interest record of 20,160
contracts was set in July 2010.
The DME has reported a 130% increase in
liquidity since 2008, averaging 2,930 lots per day
since the start of 2010, equivalent to approximately 3
million barrels of oil traded daily.
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.