The Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) said average daily trading volumes of its benchmark DME Oman crude futures contract increased almost 21% in 2011 to 3,505 contracts per day, or the equivalent of around 3.5 million b/d. That is up from an average of 2,898 lots in 2010, 2,156 in 2009 and 1,274 in 2008. The exchange’s use of the benchmark for physically deliverable crude amounted to an average of 12.1 million bbl of crude per month, setting a new monthly record of 15.4 million bbl in September. The figure for physical deliveries was fairly stagnant from last year (IOD Jan.12’11).
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