ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates– On March 29, IFAD launched trading in ICE Murban Crude Oil Futures and 18 Murban-related cash settled derivatives and inter-commodity spreads, offering the market the broadest range of ways to trade and hedge Murban crude oil. Produced by ADNOC Onshore, Murban is the UAE’s largest crude by volume, with daily production capacity of up to 2 million barrels.
IFAD saw record open interest of 53,515 contracts on May 18, with 48,440 of that total in the ICE Murban Crude Oil futures contract. A total of 282,692 contracts have traded since launch, equivalent to 282 million barrels of Murban Crude oil. This includes 275,507 ICE Murban Crude Oil futures contracts and 7,185 Murban-related cash settled derivatives, with 55 firms having traded on IFAD since launch. Average Daily Volume in Murban Crude Oil Futures is 7,210 contracts.
“All the key metrics you look for to judge the traction of a new benchmark in the market – volumes, open interest, number and range of participants, and the depth of the curve – are all increasing,” said Jamal Oulhadj, President of ICE Futures Abu Dhabi. “This really reflects how the energy industry is utilizing its new ability to hedge forward price risk for Murban crude and contribute to the price formation process of Murban crude oil.”
IFAD has 29 Exchange Members and 22 Clearing Members, who are listed in full on IFAD’s Membership page. Clearing members stand behind all trades made through IFAD and cleared by ICE Clear Europe, whether it is for the account of a customer, member, or their own account.
Murban futures are open for trading for 24 hours a day on Mondays and 22 hours a day Tuesdays to Fridays, with investors from jurisdictions including Abu Dhabi Global Market, the United States, Singapore, UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Norway, Australia, Japan and South Korea, able to trade on IFAD.
Contracts traded on IFAD are cleared at ICE Clear Europe where they are cleared alongside ICE’s global energy futures platform covering oil, natural gas and the environmental complex, allowing customers to benefit from critical margin offsets to enhance capital efficiency.
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