A new Dubai commodity futures exchange that will utilize an electronic trading system rather then an open outcry system will be launched in the last quarter of 2006.
The exchange will be a joint venture between the New York Mercantile Exchange and Dubai Holdings, which is state owned.
Officials for the new Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) announced that it would begin trading Middle East sour crude oil futures when it is in initially begins business.
A statement from the exchange read: "The DME Board has approved the implementation of an electronic trade matching engine that will be located in the Dubai International Financial Centre," according to <i>Gulf News</i>.
An eight-member board has already been chosen for the DME, which will launch a worldwide marketing drive in February at the Cambridge Energy Research Associates Conference in Houston, Texas.
Top global energy executives and policy makers are expected to attend the conference.
Dubai currently has a commodities futures exchange, the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange, which opened in November.
