DME, the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East, announced today a set of records for the month of January 2016.

The Exchange registered a new record for physical delivery volumes of 27.3 million bl for March loading (previous record was 22.5mn bl in March 2015), and four successive open interest records for its Oman Crude Oil Futures contract peaking at 36,109 contracts.

The Exchange also saw traded volumes increase by 17 per cent year-on-year amid strong interest in the DME Oman contract from commercial and financial firms around the world.

Owain Johnson, Managing Director, DME said, “We are delighted to start 2016 with these records. Today’s turbulent markets confirm the need for a regulated exchange that offers risk management and hedging solutions in this part of the world. We are witnessing a developing appetite among oil sellers and buyers to trade and get oil delivered through DME, the only regulated energy exchange in one of the biggest oil producing regions.”

“DME plays a major role today as a reliable pricing point for Middle East crude oil going east.  Our growing customer base have confidence in the transparency of the benchmark and its ability to capture the real supply-demand situation in the East of Suez market,” he added.