Abu Dhabi Murban crude set at $63.35 a barrel on June futures

Abu Dhabi set the price for its benchmark Murban crude grade based on futures trading on an exchange in the Middle Eastern petrostate for the first time.

Government-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. will sell Murban crude for $63.35 a barrel in June, according to a company statement. ADNOC set pricing for its other three crude grades at discounts of 5 cents a barrel to 40 cents a barrel less than Murban.

The official selling price for Murban is determined based on futures trading on the ICE Future Abu Dhabi exchange, which ADNOC owns along with Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange. Murban futures contracts began trading at the end of March, the first step in ADNOC’s plan to establish the grade as a benchmark for sales of other regional crudes.

Abu Dhabi is the capital of OPEC member the United Arab Emirates and holds most of the country’s oil. Murban is its most plentiful grade making up roughly half of the country’s 4 million-barrel-a-day production capacity.

Saudi Arabia, the top producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is due to release its official crude pricing later this week.