IPE Brent Crude futures had its best June on record when 1,606,017 lots traded (equivalent to 1.6 billion barrels of crude oil with a value in excess of $44bn) compared to 1,570,274 lots trade in the same period last year, an increase of 3%. IPE Brent, which is part of the Brent pricing complex, is used to price over two-thirds of the world's crude oil and as such acts as a global pricing benchmark for a wide variety of market participants.
June 2001 also recorded the highest ever-monthly volumes for IPE Gas Oil futures with growth of 19%. Traded volume was 716,900 lots compared to June 2000 when 603,631 lots were traded. On 12 June the contract also set a new daily record of 60,639 lots, substantially beating the previous record of 57,778 lots set on 4 August 1999.
In addition to a record June, the six-month performance to June for IPE Brent Crude futures and IPE Gas Oil futures both show growth rates of over 4%, continuing the strong upward trend of recent years.
Richard Ward, Chief Executive, said, "the IPE has a robust business that continues to grow despite increasing competition. Our Members and users have confidence in our contracts for a number of reasons - liquidity derived from tight bid/offer spreads, the role of the London Clearing House which is independent from IPE and guarantees anonymity for all market participants, coupled with our Recognised Investment Exchange status. Trade market participants drive our business whilst our Local community plays a vital role as liquidity providers. Overall, we have a market that does not rely on one trading source for its business and the attractiveness of our market continues as we see yet another set of records broken again this June".
