The new contracts, listed on partner and shareholder exchange NYMEX, are part of efforts to woo Middle East oil producers to price their exports using the DME’s flaghsip Oman futures contract. This will create new hedging possibilities for end-users interested in avoiding so-called basis risk, Leaver said in Singapore.

“The tipping point for DME is the producer acceptance,” he said. The swaps and options “will be supportive of that initiative. If they are going to make the move, they want to be sure we are going to be there tomorrow.”

The total volume for the two most liquid contracts, the DME Oman crude oil swap futures and the DME Oman crude oil balance-of-month swap futures, was about 750 lots in the first two days of trading, Tuesday and Wednesday, the exchange said.

The other four contracts are the ICE Brent versus DME Oman crude oil swap futures, the DME Oman average price option and two Oman-linked crack swaps, one for Singapore gasoline and one for Singapore gas oil.

The exchange may launch a third crack swap for fuel oil next year, Leaver said. 

The exchange launched the Oman crude futures contract in 2007, aiming for it to become the marker for the 12 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude that move from the Middle East to Asia, according to Reuters estimates.

So far the DME Oman contract is the benchmark for about 900,000 bpd, the exchange says, all of it output from Oman and Dubai. Saudi Arabia’s adoption of the benchmark remains key for any full-scale transition to DME, Leaver says.

Trade volumes of the Oman futures surpassed 4,500 lots on Wednesday, Leaver said, compared with an average of about 2,950 so far this year. That compares with a threshold of 10,000 contracts per day, which the exchange has pegged as the level for commercial success.