Second day of trading for Murban crude contracts

The benchmark moved 0.5 per cent lower at $63.57 per barrel

Contracts traded at Ifad will be cleared at Ice Clear Europe alongside global benchmarks such as Brent, West Texas Intermediate, Ice Platts Dubai and Ice Low Sulphur Gasoil. Courtesy Adnoc

Murban crude futures, Abu Dhabi's new oil benchmark, traded in line with international benchmark Brent on its second day of trading on the commodities exchange at ADGM.

The Murban futures contract for June delivery was trading 0.5 per cent lower at $63.57 per barrel at 7.28pm UAE time.

Brent, which underpins the majority of global oil trade, was 0.6 per cent lower at $64.57 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate, which prices oil on the basis of a basket of US crude grades, was lower by 0.8 per cent at $61.07 per barrel.

Abu Dhabi, which accounts for nearly all of the UAE's production, commenced trading on its popular Murban grade on Monday.

The light, sweet type of crude, which flows at the rate of 1.7 million barrels per day, accounts for half of the country's production.

The contracts are traded on Ice Futures Abu Dhabi, a new commodities exchange based in the emirate's financial free zone, Abu Dhabi Global Market.

Some 360 contracts for June delivery, which expire at the end of this month, traded on the second day, down from 6,344 on the opening day's trading.

Oil prices have remained depressed amid fresh lockdowns imposed on various parts of Europe and rising Covid-19 infections in other parts of the world.

Concerns over inflation have also depressed prices, which may receive a boost when Opec+ gathers for its monthly meetings on Wednesday and Thursday.