ICE Marks Historic Milestone in Global Energy Markets As The World’s First Murban Crude Futures Contracts Are Launched on ICE’s New Exchange in Abu Dhabi

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology, and market infrastructure, today announced the launch of ICE’s newest exchange, ICE Futures Abu Dhabi (“IFAD”), and ICE Murban Crude Oil futures, the world’s first Murban futures contract. IFAD is being launched with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and nine of the world’s largest energy traders including BP, ENEOS, GS Caltex, INPEX, PetroChina, PTT, Shell, TOTSA (Total) and Vitol.

ICE Murban Crude Oil Futures opened for trading today along with 18 Murban-related cash settled derivatives and inter-commodity spreads. These new contracts offer the market the broadest range of ways to trade and hedge Murban crude.

“The launch of IFAD represents a singular achievement, one that would not have been realized without the vision, fortitude and years of work by His Excellency Dr. Sultan, his team at ADNOC, and the leadership of the UAE in opening up Murban to the markets,” said Jeffrey C. Sprecher, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange. “Today, with our outstanding partners, we are bringing a new benchmark to life, and just as Murban has powered the UAE for the past 50 years, with this new futures contract there is a tremendous future ahead for Murban as a price marker for global energy markets.”

“Murban Crude is recognized the world over for its intrinsic chemical qualities, consistent and stable production volumes, large number of international buyers, and numerous long-term concession and production partners,” said His Excellency Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO. “In making Murban a freely traded global commodity, it becomes even more attractive to market participants and will deliver greater value to ADNOC and its partners. This historic and strategic milestone reinforces the UAE and Abu Dhabi’s status as a leading global energy hub and underscores ADNOC’s central role as a catalyst to empower the UAE’s economic ambitions.”

Murban futures are open for trading for 24 hours a day on Mondays and 22 hours a day Tuesdays to Fridays, with investors from jurisdictions including Abu Dhabi Global Market, United States, Singapore, UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Norway, Australia, Japan and South Korea, able to trade on IFAD. IFAD has 26 Exchange Members and 19 Clearing Members, who are listed in full on IFAD’s Membership page.

Contracts traded on IFAD are cleared at ICE Clear Europe where they are cleared alongside ICE’s global energy futures platform covering oil, natural gas and the environmental complex, allowing customers to benefit from critical margin offsets to enhance capital efficiency.

About Intercontinental Exchange

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) is a Fortune 500 company and provider of marketplace infrastructure, data services and technology solutions to a broad range of customers including financial institutions, corporations and government entities. We operate regulated marketplaces, including the New York Stock Exchange, for the listing, trading and clearing of a broad array of derivatives contracts and financial securities across major asset classes. Our comprehensive data services offering supports the trading, investment, risk management and connectivity needs of customers around the world and across asset classes. As a leading technology provider for the U.S. residential mortgage industry, ICE Mortgage Technology provides the technology and infrastructure to transform and digitize U.S. residential mortgages, from application and loan origination through to final settlement.

Trademarks of ICE and/or its affiliates include Intercontinental Exchange, ICE, ICE block design, NYSE and New York Stock Exchange. Information regarding additional trademarks and intellectual property rights of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. and/or its affiliates is located here. Key Information Documents for certain products covered by the EU Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products Regulation can be accessed on the relevant exchange website under the heading “Key Information Documents (KIDS).”

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 -- Statements in this press release regarding ICE's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, as filed with the SEC on February 4, 2021.

ICE- CORP

Source: Intercontinental Exchange

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210329005451/en/