Murban crude futures register record trading in Q2

Equivalent of 1.5 billion barrels of the UAE's flagship oil grade were traded on Ifad exchange

About 7.4 billion barrels of Murban crude oil have been traded since the launch of Ice Futures Abu Dhabi. Photo: Adnoc

The futures market of Murban, the UAE's flagship oil grade, reached record trading volumes of 1.5 million contracts in the second quarter of this year, according to the Intercontinental Exchange, also known as Ice.

The volumes traded were equivalent to 1.5 billion barrels of Murban crude, up more than 160 per cent since the start of the year, state news agency Wam reported on Sunday.

About 7.4 billion barrels of Murban crude oil have been traded since the launch of Ice Futures Abu Dhabi (Ifad), on which the contracts trade, and 267 million barrels of Murban have been delivered through the exchange, the report said.

Murban, supplied by Adnoc, is considered one of the lowest carbon-emission crude oils in the world.

It is a premium-grade, light, sweet crude that is popular among Asian buyers, who increasingly dominate the global trade in oil.

Murban exports averaged 1.636 million barrels per day in April after an eight-year high of 1.644 million bpd in February, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data.

In April, Adnoc forecast Murban crude volume available for export in April 2025 would be 1.65 million bpd.

The UAE has the capacity to produce 2 million bpd of Murban.

Fujairah port on the UAE's east coast accounts for about 75 per cent of Murban exports, with the rest shipped out from Ruwais port, according to S&P Global.

The Murban futures contract made a debut on the Ifad in March 2021 as the UAE's capital set its sights on becoming a commodities hub.

IFAD, at Abu Dhabi Global Market, is an independent futures exchange for the trade of Murban futures contract derivatives.

Murban crude futures launch - in pictures

The introduction of the Murban futures contract was backed by Adnoc, Ice and nine energy companies – BP, GS Caltex, Impex, Eneos, PetroChina, PTT, Shell, TotalEnergies and Vitol.

The Murban futures contract allows oil from Abu Dhabi to become a freely traded global commodity, filling a void in the trading and pricing of crude from the Middle East.

Contracts traded at the Abu Dhabi exchange are cleared at Ice Clear Europe alongside global benchmarks such as Brent, West Texas Intermediate, Ice Platts Dubai and Ice Low Sulphur Gasoil.

The futures are open for trade 24 hours a day on Mondays and 22 hours a day from Tuesdays to Fridays.

Investors from jurisdictions including the ADGM, the US, Singapore, the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Norway, Australia, Japan and South Korea are able to trade on the exchange.

Throughout last month, Murban futures hit a series of record volume trading days, including a record high day of 57,300 contracts traded, equivalent to 57.3 million barrels on June 10, Wam reported.

The average daily volume of Murban futures in June was a record 31,000 contracts, equivalent to 31 million barrels, a statement from Ice said.

Ice’s global commodity markets, including benchmark oil and natural gas contracts, also hit record trading activity in the second quarter of this year with more than 305 million contracts traded, it said.

Ifad is supported by several of Adnoc's trading and upstream partners.

More than 160 participants have traded on Ifad to date from across Asia, the US, Europe and the Middle East, including commercial and financial participants, Ice said.

Murban is part of Ice’s global oil complex covering more than 800 futures and options contracts, centred around Brent which is used to price more than three quarters of the world’s internationally traded crude oil.