NSE to launch brent crude oil contracts on Mar 1, signs pact with ICIS for data

The NSE Thursday said it would launch brent crude oil contracts on March 1 and has signed a pact with global market information provider ICIS for using its Brent-Forties-Oseberg-Ekofisk data.

The bourse will launch two cash-settled futures products 100 barrel brent crude oil futures and 10 barrels brent crude oil mini futures, the National Stock Exchange said in a media release.

The trading session for both the futures will be between 9:00 am and 11:30 pm from Monday to Friday. The initial margin on this contract would be minimum 4 per cent or based on SPAN margin system, whichever is higher.

"India being the third-largest consumer of crude oil in the world, after the United States and China required an efficient hedging mechanism, this product will provide an opportunity to market participants for accessing the global crude oil markets and hedging their risk," NSE Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Vikram Limaye said.

"The stock exchange has signed agreement with ICIS (global market information provider for the energy and petrochemical markets) to license its Brent-Forties-Oseberg-Ekofisk (BFOE) market data," the release added.

As part of the daily compilation of the index, the NSE is licensing ICIS BFOE assessment data, which is produced five times a day.

The ICIS BFOE assessment data complies with the standards and principles set by the International Organization of Securities Commissions.

Earlier, the NSE had launched futures contract in gold and silver in its commodity derivatives segment and also received markets regulator Sebi's approval to launch futures contracts in copper.