ICE Futures Abu Dhabi's (IFAD) Murban crude futures traded at a premium of $1.75/b over benchmark front-month Dubai crude futures at the Singapore close March 29, the first day of trading for the contract, according to data from Intercontinental Exchange.
The Singapore marker price for 1st line June Murban crude futures was published at $63.07/b. S&P Global Platts assessed June Dubai futures at Singapore close at $61.32/b.
As of 11 am London (2 pm Abu Dhabi time) 6,214 lots of Murban crude had traded, according to an ICE spokesperson.
Traders said that while trading activity appeared to be healthy on the first day of the contract, overall market interest may pick up starting April 1 when the broader market starts trading Middle East crude loading in June.
ICE Murban 1st line crude futures represent contract for physically deliverable oil loading FOB Fujairah two months forward. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. is expected to set the official selling price of its flagship Murban crude based on the average of the Singapore marker price over April. ADNOC currently sets its Murban crude OSP as a differential to Platts Dubai.
Much of the market is currently trading May-loading crude. Platts on March 29 assessed benchmark cash Dubai at a premium of $1.16/b over front-month May Dubai crude futures. May-loading Murban was assessed at $1.66/b over May Dubai crude futures. The official selling price for Abu Dhabi's Upper Zakum, Das Blend and Umm Lulu will be announced as a differential to Murban OSP a month prior to crude loading.
Earlier this month, ADNOC announced that its Murban, Upper Zakum, Das and Umm Lulu crude grades would be sold without any destination restrictions for cargoes loading from June onwards.
Murban is a deliverable grade in the Platts Dubai and Platts Oman benchmark assessment.
In its second report published March 28, ADNOC said it would have 1.034 million b/d of Murban available for export in April, with volumes falling to 1.001 million b/d in May, figures that remain unchanged from its first report published February. For June, the first delivery month for the new futures contract, the volume rises to 1.040 million b/d and then 1.070 million b/d in July and August.
Murban is the second physically delivered futures contract to trade on a regional exchange after the Dubai Mercantile Exchange's Oman crude futures.
IFAD is being launched with nine partner companies that are BP, GS Caltex of South Korea, Japanese companies Inpex and ENEOS, PetroChina, Thailand's PTT, Shell, Total and Vitol.
