Bloomberg has unveiled a new Bloomberg Commodity Murban Crude Oil Index, designed to monitor the performance of rolling futures on Murban Crude Oil. This fresh addition serves as a subindex of the flagship Bloomberg Commodity Index (BCOM) and underscores the rapid global recognition and significance that Murban crude and its futures contract have gained, trading alongside renowned benchmarks like Brent and WTI.
Introduced in March 2021, the Murban crude oil future operates as a physically delivered contract at Fujairah in the UAE, traded on the ICE Future Abu Dhabi (IFAD) exchange.
Since its inception, the Murban futures contract has notably attracted a growing number of both physical and financial buyers of the UAE’s Murban crude.
Over 150 participants have engaged in trading on IFAD since its launch, hailing from various regions including the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, showcasing the widespread interest in trading Murban crude oil.
Since IFAD’s establishment, more than 5.5 million contracts have been traded, equivalent to 5.5 billion barrels of Murban crude oil. Approximately 244 million barrels of Murban crude oil have been delivered through IFAD, demonstrating customers’ confidence in the IFAD delivery process.
Sourced from ADNOC’s onshore concessions, Murban crude constitutes over half of the UAE’s total oil production, according to WAM.
While historically, exposure to global crude oil markets has mainly been through WTI and Brent Crude Oil futures, Bloomberg’s index research team highlights that the geographical demand, crude grade, and transportation dynamics of Murban crude oil futures not only provide investors with diversification benefits from WTI and Brent Crude Oil exposure but also enable better targeting of geopolitical risk and regional growth dynamics.
