Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) today announced the launch of Alternative Crude Ecosystem (ACE) – a new bilateral trading platform to enable participants to trade multiple crude grades through the exchange, state-owned WAM reports.

Based in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), DME will make the platform available for all participants and will offer traders the opportunity to trade bilateral barrels of Dubai, Upper Zakum, Murban, Basrah Light, Basrah Heavy, Al Shaheen and Oman versus the DME Oman Sour Crude Benchmark futures.

This new functionality allows Middle East Crude participants a way to execute multiple Over the Counter (OTC) crude grades as differentials against DME Oman futures. The new service offered by DME will shed the light on the growing importance and the status of DME Oman as a strong and reliable Benchmark for the Middle East, representing consistent fair value for Sour Crude barrels to the East of Suez.

“We are always looking to enrich our customers’ experience and enable them to benefit from what the market has to offer,” says Raid Al Salami, managing director of DME. “ACE is a unique platform where it combines Futures and OTC in one transparent window for the very first time, offering all participants opportunities to optimise their trading activities and manage their exposure across multiple crude grades.”

Arif Amiri, CEO of DIFC Authority, said, “DIFC would like to congratulate DME on the launch of ACE, which innovatively provides an opportunity to trade a range of crude grades as differentials to DME Oman. We are pleased to see DME continue to develop their position as the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East from DIFC, the leading global financial centre in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region. Our enabling platform continues to provide opportunities for clients to innovate and together we are shaping the future of finance.”

Salim Al Aufi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, Oman, said, “The Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM) support all continuous improvement initiatives in the oil markets, as it enhances the price discovery and offers a fair price for the key commodity of the region. DME Oman has been the benchmark for us since 2007. We believe DME has successfully passed a major stress test in 2020 and presented itself as the natural benchmark for crudes produced in our region. With the launch of ACE, national oil companies across the region will have the opportunity to discover the fair price for grades based on the DME Oman benchmark.”

The new initiative aligns with the objectives of DIFC which has helped contribute to the Dubai Plan 2021 by making the emirate a pivotal hub for finance in the global economy. The DIFC platform provides clients with most enabling laws and regulations which are stimulating financial related innovation in the region.