The initial price limits for light, sweet crude oil futures will be expanded to $10.00 per barrel in all months from the current $7.50 in the first two months and $3.00 in all other months. The initial Henry Hub natural gas futures limits will expand to $3.00 per mmBtu in all months from $1.00 in all months. The initial limits on heating oil, gasoline, and propane futures will increase to $.25 per gallon in all months from $.20 in the first two months and $.06 in all other months.
When there are trades, bids, or offers in any month of an energy futures contract at those limits for five minutes, all months of the futures and options contracts for that commodity will close immediately for the next five minutes and reopen with expanded limits of the same amount on either side of the previous limits. For example, if crude oil settled at $35.00, it would open the next day with a $10.00 limit on either side of the previous day's settlement price, for a range of $25.00 to $45.00. If a halt is triggered, the market would reopen five minutes later with expanded limits of $15.00 and $55.00. If another halt is triggered, after those five minutes, the new limits would be $5.00 and $65.00, etc.
The limits for NYMEX ACCESS® will be identical to those for open outcry trading in the same products, but the market will halt as soon as there is a trade, bid, or offer at the limit and will reopen as soon as the new limits are set. There will be no separate price limits for related products that are listed solely electronically on NYMEX ACCESS® and NYMEX ClearPortSM, however, a halt in the underlying futures contract will result in a parallel halt in all related products on the electronic trading platform.
A halt in crude oil, heating oil, or gasoline will result in expanded limits in the other two markets at the same time as the halted markets resume trading.
Under the current rules, if limits are reached in one of the first two listed months of the crude oil futures contract or one of the petroleum product futures contracts, the futures and options contracts for that commodity would close for an hour and reopen with expanded limits in each month in the direction of the move, which would be the maximum that the price could fluctuate that day. In the case of the natural gas market, the current rules call for futures and options contracts to close for 15 minutes and the limits to expand on either side of the previous limits, but there can be no further price fluctuation.
The Exchange also will eliminate all limits during the last 15 minutes of trading and its post-close trading sessions in its energy markets.
Exchange President J. Robert Collins, Jr., said, "I would like to commend our board and staff who worked diligently to develop a comprehensive plan that provides the marketplace with access to the worldýýýs most secure and reliable pricing forum at the time everyone needs it most, while also allowing for the orderly dissemination of information and financial administration that plays a critical role in market integrity and operational efficiency."
