(EnergyAsia, January 29, Tuesday) — The Dubai Mercantile Exchange Limited said it has been given permission by the Dubai Financial Services Authority to accept privately negotiated ‘block trades’ of Oman crude oil futures contracts from January 14.

‘Block’ trades of a minimum size of 100 contracts can be submitted to the exchange via the NYMEX Clearport trade entry portal by a broker or the NYMEX facilitation desk. The block trades must be reported to the exchange within five minutes of execution.

DME CEO Gary King said: “This latest development is in response to growing demand from our members and customers to submit their off-exchange transactions to the DME.

“We are delighted to be able to offer them the world-class block trading facility developed by NYMEX and have been working with the over the counter brokers to make sure that they are aware of this new business opportunity. We look forward to a long partnership with them.”

The DME, a joint venture between NYMEX, Tatweer, a member of Dubai Holding, and the Oman Investment Fund (OIF), is the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East, providing a financially secure, well-regulated and transparent trading environment.