The Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), a premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East, hosted the second Basrah Light crude oil auction on Wednesday.

Almost 50 bids were received from 15 participating companies and the 2 million barrel cargo was awarded at a premium of 37 cents to the July Basrah Light Official Selling Price (OSP), which will be published by Iraq state-oil company SOMO in the second week of June.

The highest bid of +37 cents was 6 cents higher than the June Basrah Auction, which was awarded at OSP +31 cents.

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.

Launched in 2007, the entity 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.-TradeArabia News Service