DME trading volume up 19% in 2011

The Dubai Mercantile Exchange Limited (DME) recorded year-on-year trading volume growth of 19 per cent in 2011, it announced yesterday. DME delivered more than 145 million barrels of crude oil in 2011, led by its DME Oman Crude Oil Futures contract (DME Oman), but with a series of linked contracts adding to the performance, DME said in a statement. Within the growth figure was an increase in average daily volume (ADV) to 3,505 contracts per day, peaking at 4,427 per day in July, and representing the highest monthly ADV since the DME began trading in 2007. New records in total volume were also set in consecutive months during July and August, the latter seeing 95,440 contracts traded through the exchange. Physical delivery of the DME Oman contract also grew through 2011, with an average of 12.115 million barrels of crude oil delivered each month and a new monthly record of 15.4 million barrels set in September. "This underlying growth ... reinforces DME Oman's position as the world's leading physically delivered crude oil futures contract," the statement said.