Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has hired the former chief executive of the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) as the new president of its ICE Futures Abu Dhabi (IFAD) venue.

Gary King started his role this week, according to a spokesperson for the firm. King, a thirty year veteran, has replaced Jamal Oulhadj who has left his role with the exchange group. Oulhadj had been in the role since the beginning of 2020, joining the firm after a stint as the Middle East chief of US broker RJ O’Brien.

Starting his career as a crude oil trader in 1983, King was appointed as the first chief executive of the DME at the end of 2005. He held the role at the joint venture between the Governments of Dubai, Oman and the New York Mercantile Exchange for nearly three years, and later headed up energy focussed private equity fund Dubai Natural Resources World. He has most recently held advisory roles within the energy sector.

ICE cut a deal with the Abu Dhabi to build an energy market in the Gulf state’s international financial centre in September 2019. The venue was launched by ICE and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in March 2021. Nine of the world’s main energy trading firms took minority stakes in the exchange at launch. Those firms are: BP, GS Caltex, INPEX, JXTG, PetroChina, PTT, Shell, TOTSA (Total) and Vitol.

Over 2 million contracts have traded on the venue since launch, with over 110 global participants taking part, ICE says. Average daily volume in Murban futures stands at approximately 5,500 contracts.

Oulhadj said last year the Murban contract was set to become an Asian benchmark, as it provides a price marker for Murban and other grades produced by ADNOC for the region's market.