March 2018 Basrah Cargo sold at premium DME auctions

Dubai: Dubai Mercantile Exchange said it hosted its latest auction on Wednesday, January 24 on behalf of Iraq’s National Oil Company, SOMO.

The 2-million barrel cargo of Basrah Heavy was awarded at a premium of $0.31 (Dh1.14) per barrel over the March Basrah Heavy Official Selling Price (OSP). Twenty companies have participated in the auction with 17 bids received during the two-minute auction.

In 2017 DME hosted several auctions, totalling more than 25 million barrels of different crude oil grades; including Oman Blend, Basrah Light, Basrah Heavy, and Malaysian Kimanis. This generated premiums of more than $14 million.

The DME Auction was launched in 2016 in a bid to provide a transparent spot commodity auction system for the first time in the Middle East.