IntercontinentalExchange, NGX Expand Alliance to Physical Crude

CHICAGO and TORONTO, Jan. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE), a leading operator of regulated global futures exchanges, clearing houses and over-the-counter (OTC) markets, and TMX Group (TSX: X), owner of Natural Gas Exchange Inc. (NGX) which offers leading trading and clearing services for natural gas, crude oil and electricity contracts, today announced an agreement to add Canadian and U.S. physical and Canadian financial crude oil products to their existing clearing and technology alliance.

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Under the terms of the agreement, NGX's Canadian physical crude products will be offered for trading through ICE's electronic trading platform. NGX will provide clearing services for the new physical crude contracts that will be traded on ICE. ICE and NGX expect to launch the combined offering in the first quarter of 2011.  ICE launched financial products against TMX Group's Canadian crude indices, the industry's most comprehensive gauge of Canadian crude pricing, in December.  

TMX Group entered the physical crude space in 2009 with the acquisition of NetThruPut Inc. (NTP), a North American crude oil exchange and clearing facility, whose crude oil products now transact through NGX.  NGX operates North America's leading clearing house for physical natural gas.  

Said Tom Kloet, CEO, TMX Group: "Market participants have responded positively to the existing NGX-ICE alliance by continuing to post record volumes in the areas we serve together. We are delighted to be able to offer these world class energy trading and risk management tools to our valued customers in crude."

Said ICE Chairman and CEO, Jeffrey C. Sprecher: "This agreement builds on the success of our partnership with NGX in the North American physical gas and power markets by creating risk management opportunities and capital efficiencies for oil market participants."

ICE has served the global crude markets for over a decade through its OTC energy markets and through London-based ICE Futures Europe. ICE currently provides trading technology to NGX for Canadian natural gas and power markets. NGX in turn provides physical clearing services for ICE's U.S. physical natural gas markets. Since the launch of this alliance in 2008, these markets have seen strong volume growth.

About IntercontinentalExchange Intercontinental Exchange® (NYSE: ICE) operates leading regulated exchanges, trading platforms and clearing houses serving the global markets for agricultural, credit, currency, emissions, energy and equity index markets. ICE Futures Europe® hosts trade in half of the world's crude and refined oil futures. ICE Futures U.S.® and ICE Futures Canada(R) list agricultural, currency and Russell Index markets. ICE offers trade execution and processing for the credit derivatives markets through Creditex and ICE Link(TM), respectively, and CDS clearing through ICE Trust(TM) and ICE Clear Europe®. A component of the Russell 1000® and S&P 500 indexes, ICE® serves customers in more than 70 countries and is headquartered in Atlanta, with offices in New York, London, Chicago, Winnipeg, Calgary, Houston and Singapore. www.theice.com

The following are trademarks of IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. and/or its affiliate companies: IntercontinentalExchange, IntercontinentalExchange & Design, ICE, ICE and block design, ICE Futures Europe, and ICE Clear Europe. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For more information regarding registered trademarks owned by IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. and/or its affiliated companies, see https://www.theice.com/terms.jhtml

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 - Statements in this press release regarding IntercontinentalExchange's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, as filed with the SEC on February 10, 2010.

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About TMX Group (TSX-X)

TMX Group's key subsidiaries operate cash and derivative markets for multiple asset classes including equities, fixed income and energy. Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, Montreal Exchange, NGX, Boston Options Exchange (BOX), Shorcan, Equicom and other TMX Group companies provide trading markets, clearing facilities, data products and other services to the global financial community. TMX Group is headquartered in Toronto with offices in Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver and Houston.  For more information about TMX Group, visit our website at www.tmx.com.

SOURCE IntercontinentalExchange Inc.