For Dubai, The Oil Futures Are Now

At 6 p.m. Eastern time, a long-awaited effort gets under way in Dubai’s opulent financial center to give the world a new crude-oil pricing benchmark. The recently organized Dubai Mercantile Exchange is launching its Middle East “sour” crude futures contract as an alternative to the bellwether New York and London contracts for the black gold of Texas and the North Sea.

And with Nymex’s primary grade — West Texas Intermediate — representing an ever-thinner slice of global production, supporters say it is time to build a more robust market around the world’s most plentiful source of oil. The Middle East accounts for about a third of global production, and 62% of its proven reserves. The oil there is predominantly thick and “sour,” a reference to its sulfur content, whereas WTI and similar blends are easier to refine into gasoline.

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