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Some 5.11 mil barrels of Murban to be delivered in June to settle IFAD futures

The first full month of trading in Murban crude futures saw 5,110 contracts go to expiry on April 30, equivalent to 5.11 million barrels for physical delivery in June, according to ICE data.

Some 163,647 Murban contracts have traded since its launch on March 29, equivalent to 163.6 million barrels, ICE told S&P Global Platts on May 4.

Average daily trading volume in April was 6,625 contracts, ICE said. Each contract represents 1,000 barrels, with physical delivery two months ahead from the most prompt month of trade.

ICE, state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., and nine other partners launched the futures contract on IFAD, a new Abu Dhabi-based exchange, in the hope of creating a Middle East futures benchmark for crude headed to Asia.

The contract is underpinned by ADNOC’s flagship Murban crude, its largest stream by volume, with a production capacity of about 2 million b/d — or half the company’s total capacity.

Murban is one of four crudes produced by ADNOC.

Official selling prices

ADNOC set the June official selling price for Murban at $63.35/b, the first OSP based on the monthly average of the futures contract, the company said May 2.

OSPs for ADNOC’s Upper Zakum, Das and Umm Lulu grades were priced at a differential to the Murban OSP.

ADNOC said April 27 it planned to have 1.001 million b/d of Murban available for export in May, with volumes rising to 1.040 million b/d in June, unchanged from figures published in its report in March. For July and August, the volume rises to 1.070 million b/d for each month, also unchanged from its previous report.

ADNOC, however, lowered its availability forecast for Murban exports between December 2021 and April 2022 to 1.072 million b/d in the latest report, from a range of between 1.080 million b/d and 1.091 million b/d in its previous report in March. No explanation was given for the lower forecast.

Murban is the second physically delivered futures contract to trade on a regional exchange after the Dubai Mercantile Exchange ‘s Oman crude futures.

It is also a deliverable grade in the S&P Global Platts benchmark Dubai and Oman crude assessments.
Source: Platts

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