Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME)'s chief executive Gary King last week told FO Week that the exchange wants its Oman-priced crude oil futures contract to become a global benchmark at least as significant as the existing US and UK-based offerings from New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) and Intercontinental Exchange.
King said, "We definitely want this to be a benchmark for Middle Eastern sour crude oil pricing. However, over the next few years we would like to see it trade as much, if not more than, WTI and Brent and become a global benchmark. That is the vision."
Market commentators have previously suggested that with the Middle East producing far more oil than Texas or the North Sea, the pricing basis...