The Dubai Mercantile Exchangeis to open its first overseas office, in Singapore, as it targets China and India in its push to establish a new global benchmark for oil futures.
The Middle East bourse is looking to Asia as it seeks to develop its flagship Oman crude oil futures contract and make the fledgling benchmark a competitor to CME Group’s WTI, the US crude contract, and Brent, the global benchmark owned by the US’s IntercontinentalExchange.
Historically volumes of trading in the contract have far trailed those of its rivals even in spite of Dubai’s proximity to some of the world’s largest oilfields. Western-based exchanges have also regularly failed to make headway developing derivatives contracts for Middle East crude in the last 20 years. Five years ago ICE and the New York Mercantile Exchange – now owned by CME – were also unable to garner sufficient liquidity to their benchmarks.