Dubai Mercantile Exchange Celebrates Five Years of Consistent Growth in Trading Volumes

Dubai Mercantile Exchange Celebrates Five Years of Consistent Growth in Trading Volumes PR Newswire DUBAI, August 14, 2012 DUBAI, August 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) is this month celebrating its fifth anniversary. Since its launch in June 2007, DME has established itself as the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East, recording consistent year-on-year trading growth. The Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract (DME Oman), the Exchange's flagship contract, is now the most credible oil benchmark relevant to the Asian market. In 2012, trades on DME passed the 3 billion barrel mark, with a total of 3.478 million contracts (eqv. 3.478 billion barrels) traded on the Exchange and annual average daily volumes growing at an annual compounded rate of 31%. Volumes for DME Oman have surged in the first half of 2012, reaching a record 141,129 contracts (141.129 million barrels) in May, an increase of nearly 17,967 contracts over the previous record in April of the same year, and an impressive 78% growth over the same period in 2011. DME's Chairman Ahmad Sharaf, said:"Our consistent growth in trading volumes over the last five years - a trend that has accelerated in 2012 - is an indication of the growing importance of Asian demand for oil in the global marketplace. "This growth in demand drove the need for a credible crude oil benchmark for global oil sales to Asia, and that's exactly what DME Oman is providing.