The Intercontinental Exchange (Ice) said today that it plans to launch Abu Dhabi's Murban crude futures contract towards the end of the first quarter of next year.
The new contract had been due to start trading in the first half of this year, but Ice postponed the launch in May on the back of Covid-19 and huge volatility in the Ice Brent and Nymex WTI futures contracts.
Abu Dhabi's state-owned Adnoc selected Ice to host its Murban futures contract in November last year. Ice has since established the new Ice Futures Abu Dhabi (IFAD) exchange for that purpose. As part of Abu Dhabi's efforts to secure liquidity in the nascent exchange once it starts trading, nine companies have signed onto IFAD as shareholders — BP, GS Caltex, Inpex, JXTG, PetroChina, PTT, Shell, Total and Vitol.
The contract will be physically delivered at Fujairah on a fob basis. But market participants who prefer a financial settlement will also have that option.
The Murban futures contract will likely trade cargoes loading two months ahead, in line with standard practice for the bulk of Mideast Gulf spot crude cargoes that trade on the Asia-Pacific market. The contract will set the monthly Murban official selling price (OSP), which is also Adnoc's Murban export term price.
