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GS Caltex joins crude exchange

President and CEO of GS Caltex Hur Sae-hong, right, and Adnoc Group CEO Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber pose in Abu Dhabi, UAE. [YONHAP]

Oil refiner GS Caltex joined international energy giants in signing an agreement to establish a futures exchange for Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s Murban crude. The futures exchange is expected to raise the transparency of Murban crude transactions, according to GS Caltex.

GS Caltex on Monday signed an agreement to establish ICE Futures Abu Dhabi. Hur Sae-hong, president and CEO of GS Caltex, attended the signing ceremony in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.

Global energy giants like BP, Shell and PetroChina, along with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and the Intercontinental Exchange were among the partners.

GS Caltex, the No. 2 oil refiner in Korea, is the only Korean company to have joined the exchange.

ICE Futures Abu Dhabi is scheduled to launch next year.

The price of Murban crude will be decided a month before the shipping date on the ICE Futures Abu Dhabi exchange, not a month following the shipping date as is done now.

“From a consumer perspective, price transparency is expected to be improved,” according to GS Caltex in a statement.

Murban crude is globally used by more than 60 oil refiners. GS Caltex last year imported 47 million barrels of Murban crude. GS Caltex’s parent firm GS Energy holds a 3 percent stake in a UAE oil field that produces Murban crude.

“[GS Caltex] got to contribute to raising the transparency of prices and activating the transaction of Murban crude, a representative light crude oil that will increase in demand when a new sulfur content regulation on marine fuels goes into effect in 2020,” said a spokesperson for GS Caltex.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]