Nymex To Allow Trading Of Brent/WTI Spread During Holidays

New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc., announced today that, going forward, it will permit trading of the Brent/West Texas Intermediate spread in Dublin when the New York trading floor is closed and the Dublin trading floor is open, including on Friday, December 24, and Friday, December 31.

The NYMEX Division light, sweet crude oil futures contract will be settled after the close of the next New York trading session following the holiday. In the case of the Christmas and New Year holidays, the next light, sweet crude oil futures contract settlements will be determined on the afternoon of Monday, December 27, and Monday, January 3, 2005.

The Dublin trading floor will follow the holiday schedule below:

	Dublin Time	New York Time
December 23 – early close	6 PM	1 PM
December 24 – early close	1 PM	8 AM
December 27 – Dublin market closed
December 28 – Dublin market closed
December 29 – early close	6 PM	1 PM
December 30 – early close	6 PM	1 PM
December 31 – early close	1 PM	8 AM
January 3, 2005 – Dublin market closed

Exchange President James E. Newsome said, "Because there has been considerable interest by market participants in spread trading between our light, sweet crude oil and Brent crude oil futures contracts, the Exchange will continue to offer this tool in Europe during the U.S. holidays."