Nymex To List Electricity Contracts For Daytime Electronic Trading Beginning March 2

The New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday announced that it will move electricity trading from open outcry to the NYMEX ACCESS® electronic trading system following the close of the March 2 trading session. At the 4 P.M. start that day of the NYMEX ACCESS® session, which marks the start of the March 3 trading session, the Exchange will list all of its existing electricity futures and options contracts for trading on the system through 2:30 PM the next day. The contract will begin trading at 4 PM Monday through Thursday evenings and will begin trading at 7 PM on Sundays. Exchange Chairman Daniel Rappaport said, "We are delighted to be able to offer this key segment of the energy industry a unique forum for trading which combines the advantages of the Exchange=s market expertise and credit safeguards with the specialized and regionalized needs of the evolving electricity market and the distinctive demands of that industry." The Exchange currently offers the following electricity contracts: Futures and options based on delivery at the California-Oregon border; Futures and options based on delivery at Palo Verde, Arizona; Futures and options based on delivery into the Cinergy transmission system; Futures and options based on delivery into the Entergy transmission system; Futures based on delivery at the western hub of the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland interconnection.