The Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) announced Wednesday that it has set a record for open interest in Oman Crude Oil Futures.
The open interest represents purchase contracts for 31.5 million barrels of crude oil, topping the previous record set in late August.
"The new record today indicates that our offering is highly appreciated by major global commercial players," Managing Director of DME Owain Johnson said. "We have witnessed strong physical delivery volumes recently and this is due to the ever-growing appetite among oil traders to trade the DME Oman contract, both to participate in price discovery and also in physical delivery through the exchange."
The exchange's overall volume of crude oil deliveries grew 30 percent from 2014 to 2015, to an all-time high of 229,039,000 barrels. DME officials credited the exchange's trading platform and delivery system for making the exchange a preferred way for international customers to get their oil.
Johnson hinted that the new record could be an indicator of even stronger business in the year ahead.
"An increase in open interest is the best indicator of the health of a futures contract and so we are delighted to set a new record," he said. "Trading volumes also continue to grow strongly on the exchange, so DME has made an excellent start to 2016."
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