Over One Million Contracts Traded on ICE Futures Abu Dhabi Since Launch This March, Says ICE

The US futures exchange Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced yesterday that a total of more than one million futures contracts have been traded on ICE Futures Abu Dhabi (IFAD) since its launch on on March 29, 2021, equivalent to one billion barrels of Murban crude oil.

According to the official press release, of this, 1,032,805 Murban Crude Oil futures contracts and 18,059 cash settled derivatives have traded. Total volume traded on IFAD since launch came in at 1,050,864 contracts.

“Murban futures are adding to price discovery in Asia and thus enhancing the functioning of both regional and international markets. Moreover, the physical delivery mechanism has worked smoothly over the first 7 months since launch and open interest continues to grow. Given this encouraging start, we are confident that the IFAD Murban futures contract will make many more headlines as it continues to grow in importance,” said Mike Muller, Head of Vitol Asia.

“As a new exchange in the Middle East, the successful running of IFAD undoubtedly marked a significant breakthrough in the regional oil benchmark innovation. It reflects the UAE’s potential to build up an international energy hub and lays a solid foundation for the UAE to become an emerging energy trading centre in the Middle East and even in the world,” the manager of PetroChina International Middle East added.

Apart from Murban Crude Oil Futures, IFAD hosts Murban-related cash settled derivatives and inter-commodity spreads, offering the market the broadest range of ways to trade and hedge Murban crude oil.