Dubai, October 8, 2015 - The Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East, was named "Asia Exchange of the Year" at the 8th Energy Risk Awards Asia 2015, which took place last night in Singapore.

The Energy Risk Awards recognize excellence across the energy and commodities markets as well as celebrating companies that have had a particularly successful year.  The winners of the Energy Risk awards were determined by editorial choice after a rigorous pitch submission and interview process. The judges paid particular attention to first-hand feedback from clients.

Owain Johnson, DME's Managing Director, said:  "DME is delighted to win this prestigious award, which is a recognition of the DME team's hard work in developing the Oman futures contract to provide companies around the world with the best and most transparent environment in which to trade Middle East crude oil. Every day, around 90 firms contribute to DME's price formation process ensuring that our regulated platform provides fair pricing for oil heading to Asia."

DME has established its Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract as the most credible crude oil benchmark in the East of Suez market.  As a fully regulated exchange, DME offers a fair price discovery mechanism and a transparent trading environment for Middle East oil exports. DME enables a broad range of industry players to participate in the pricing process and no single participant accounts for more than around 10% of DME pricing activity.

Over the past year DME has focused on creating a more efficient and cost-effective trading environment for its customers.  The Exchange introduced a new trading mechanism, Trade at Marker (TAM), as well as accepting for the first time Letters of Credit (LCs) from Singapore and Japan. DME also recently launched "DME Auctions" - a new platform that will provide a transparent spot commodity auction system for the first time in the Middle East.

About DME
DME is the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East. It aims to provide oil producers, traders and consumers engaged in the East of Suez markets with transparent pricing of crude oil.

Launched in 2007, DME has rapidly grown into a globally relevant exchange. Its flagship Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract (DME Oman) contract is now firmly established as the most credible crude oil benchmark relevant to the rapidly growing East of Suez market. Reflecting the economics of the Asian region like no other contract, and the largest physically delivered crude oil futures contract in the world, DME Oman is the world's third crude oil benchmark and the sole benchmark for Oman and Dubai exported crude oil. 

DME is a fully electronic exchange, with regulatory permissions allowing access from more than 20 jurisdictions, including the major financial centers of Asia, Europe and the United States. The Exchange is located within the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), a financial free zone designed to promote financial services within the UAE. The DME is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority and all trades executed on the DME are cleared through and guaranteed by CME Clearing.

DME is a joint venture between Dubai Holding, Oman Investment Fund and CME Group. Global financial institutions and energy trading firms including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Shell, Vitol and Concord Energy also hold equity stakes in the DME. www.dubaimerc.com

For more information, please contact:
 DME
Mayssam Hamadeh
Head of Marketing
+971 506523754 (mobile)
mayssam.hamadeh@dubaimerc.com

TRACCS (PR agency)
Walid Majzoub
+9714 3672530
walid.majzoub@traccs.net
TRACCS 24/7 Media Hotline: +97150 9448389

© Press Release 2015