Tucked between the Gulf of Oman and a craggy mountain range, the dusty port Fujairah isn’t an obvious base from which to try and revolutionize the Middle East’s oil markets.
But on Monday, when Abu Dhabi begins selling futures contracts for its oil and then shipping the barrels from Fujairah, it will mark an aggressive shift by the emirate. It hopes to change the way nearly one-fifth of the world’s crude is priced.
Persian Gulf states pump nearly 20 million barrels of oil a day and Abu Dhabi wants the futures for its flagship Murban grade to become the region’s main benchmark.
