Top oil and gas executives from around the world gathered at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference (ADIPEC).They were there to finalize and celebrate a new deal to trade futures on a type of crude oil called Murban.Four of the nine corporate partners explained their rationale for backing the deal. Here's what they had to say.Click here for more BI Prime stories.ABU DHABIIt's not every day that you get the world's top oil and gas executives in the same room. But that's exactly what just happened in consecutive days at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference (ADIPEC).The first day featured the official inking of a historic accord that will see the Abu Dhabi National Oil Companyin tandem with Intercontinental Exchangelaunch a futures exchange for its prized oil, called Murban. It's a light crude grade of which 1.7 million barrels a day are produced in the UAE, accounting for more than half of the nation's output.On hand to sign up as partners were chief executives from BP, Total, PetroChina, Shell, Vitol, Taiwan's PTT, Japan's JXTG, Korea's GS Caltex, and Inpex. During the introductory press conference, they revealed their shared vision of Murban taking a place alongside Brent crude and WTI as a third global oil benchmark.They set out several positives they see associated with the exchange. For one, the Murban exchange will adopt a forward-pricing mechanism, replacing the retroactive method used previouslyone that found purchasers unable to assess the true value of their oil until months later.A second selling point was that Murban would be "destination-free" resource, meaning no restrictions whatsoever on who can transact its futures. This led into a third attribute, which is that Murban will provide a more transparent way to trade Middle Eastern oila subject that's already on peoples' minds as formerly opaque Saudi Aramco tries to improve its optics ahead of the largest initial public offering in history.The word "transparency" came up several more times the next day, at the second gathering of oil and gas leadership. The CEO of Vitol was joined by senior executives from JXTG, PTT, and Inpex, and they each offered perspectives on what exactly the agreement means not just for them going forward, but for the Asian region and the world at large.The moderator asked each participant what makes the deal such a "game changer" for the oil and gas industry. Presented below is a collection of direct quotes from those four individuals:Russell Hardy, group CEO of Vitol"The sour crude market is very important, and today it doesn't have a good benchmark to go to. A million-plus barrels a day of exports that constitute Murban are going to create a very transparent, very tradeable commodity. I think that ultimately is why we very much hope this is going to be a success. Our backing is very much behind it."The crude exports that are coming from the US into Asia are changing the dynamics of the market, and buyers in this region need to compare the cost of many different crudes. The transparency that this is going to bring will be a great benefit to refiners, traders, and consumers across Asia."The most important thing is we get the maximum number of participants possible so we do create a liquid marketplace from the very beginning. It's not going to be nine companies. It needs to be 10,000. There's a lot of work to do."Kayo Fujiwara, executive officer and general manager of the crude-trading and shipping department at JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corp."I'm very happy Murban is now moving toward the forward pricing, which is a very simple, good thing that will have a big impact. Now that Murban is priced forward, I know exactly how much I'm going to pay for the crude I'm going to run in my refinery. So I welcome this game change, as you call it."Because we know how much the crude oil costs, we'll know both ends of our refining margins, so we'll be able to better know how much money we're making. We'll be able to hedge better as well to lock in the margin. Previously we had to find other alternatives to do that."Many Asian refiners run Murban crude in their systems, and I'd like to welcome them to be on-board with us. Because they too can use it to refine their margins, or hedge their stocks."Disathat Panyarachun, senior executive vice president of international trading at PTT"We in Thailand take in a lot of Murban, and we'd like to have more transparency in the market. We can also reduce risks by better hedging positions and increase what we earning on our refining margins. We believe it will be a very efficient way to improve liquidity in the market."Shigeharu Yajima, director and senior managing executive officer at Inpex Corp."Anything good for ADNOC is good for us. We're in the same boat. In the old days, up to today, we'd been using a very conventional marketa one-size-fits-all type of approach. This changes that."The biggest change I've seen over the years is the huge influx of US-based crude oil. If the Murban contract is on par value with liquidity, down the road, some US companies might want to price their crude oil against it. It will allow for an easy comparison."Murban can set a very good example. US crude oil has no destination restrictions. If this is eliminated, it will have a vast positive impact on the system of Murban."SEE ALSO:Inside a 'historic day' at the Middle East's biggest oil and gas conference, where all the world's top energy CEOs gathered to sign a deal that could permanently change the industryJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: A big-money investor in juggernauts like Facebook and Netflix breaks down the '3rd wave' firms that are leading the next round of tech disruption
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