CME Group Announces the Launch of New Five Decimals Natural Gas Liquids Swap Futures Contracts

CHICAGO, Aug. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CME Group, the world's largest and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced the launch of trading and clearing services for three new financially settled five decimals natural gas liquids swap futures contracts. Clearing services will be available through CME ClearPort(R), a set of flexible clearing services open to over-the-counter (OTC) market participants to substantially mitigate counterparty risk and provide neutral settlement prices across asset classes, beginning on August 16 for trade date August 17. These contracts are listed by NYMEX, and are subject to NYMEX rules and regulations.

These contracts offer our customers the ability to price at an eighth of a cent, or five decimal places, as they do in the physical and over the counter markets.

The contracts and commodity codes for the new swap futures will be: Mont Belvieu LDH propane five decimals (OPIS) (B0); Mont Belvieu ethane five decimals (OPIS) (C0); and Mont Belvieu normal butane five decimals (OPIS) (D0).

The first listed month will be the September 2009 contract. The propane contract will be listed for up to 48 consecutive months and the other contracts will be listed for 36 consecutive months.

For more information please visit www.cmegroup.com/clearport.

As the world's largest and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage risk. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather and real estate. CME Group brings buyers and sellers together through its CME Globex(R) electronic trading platform and its trading facilities in New York and Chicago. CME Group also operates CME Clearing, one of the largest central counterparty clearing services in the world, which provides clearing and settlement services for exchange-traded contracts, as well as for over-the-counter derivatives transactions through CME ClearPort(R). These products and services ensure that businesses everywhere can substantially mitigate counterparty credit risk in both listed and over-the-counter derivatives markets.

The Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME Group, Globex, E-mini and CME ClearPort are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago. NYMEX and New York Mercantile Exchange are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Further information about CME Group and its products can be found at www.cmegroup.com.

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SOURCE CME Group