MUSCAT: Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), which is partly owned by Oman Investment Authority (OIA) — the integrated sovereign wealth fund of the Sultanate of Oman — has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with international specialist in energy and commodities pricing data General Index Limited (GX) to help drive the growth and development of energy risk management and commodity derivatives markets in the Middle East and Asia.
Dubai-based DME is the premier energy-focused commodities exchange in the East of Suez and home to the world’s third crude benchmark. The DME lists the Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract (DME Oman) as its flagship contract, providing the most fair and transparent crude oil benchmark for the region. DME Oman is the explicit and sole benchmark for Oman and Dubai crude oil Official Selling Prices (OSPs) — historically established markers for Middle Eastern crude oil exports to Asia.
Commenting on the latest MoU, Raid al Salami, MD, DME said: “Today’s MoU reflects our commitment to support the regional development of energy risk management ecosystem. We will work closely with GX to pave the way towards possible new products and many joint educational activities to enhance the awareness on crude oil benchmarks and how it serves both users and producers.”
The strategic partnership will enable DME and GX to explore areas of cooperation including joint education activities and collaboration to promote crude oil and refined products benchmarks and highlight the necessity of hedging instruments against markets volatility.
A leading provider of energy and commodity pricing data, GX partners with energy firms to create cost-effective, robust pricing benchmarks for their trading and commercial activities.
Neil Bradford, CEO, GX said’’: We see great potential in combining the DME leadership position in Middle East and Asia crude benchmarks with GX’s innovative, technology-led approach to providing market data. Together we will provide new solutions to enable our joint clients to understand markets and manage risk.”
“GX was recently introduced to the market and was built on a very strong base with more than 30 years of experience in the energy markets and hence we are positive that our partnership today will bring a great value to our customers and our region’’, Al Salami added.
DME is a joint venture between Dubai Holding, Oman Investment Authority and CME Group. In addition to its core shareholders, global financial institutions and energy trading firms such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Shell, Vitol and Concord Energy have taken equity stakes in DME.
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