NYMEX to Wait for January Board Discussion Before Listing New York Harbor Unleaded Gasoline October 2000 Contract

The New York Mercantile Exchange today announced that it will not list the October 2000 contract month for New York Harbor unleaded gasoline futures until the issue is discussed at the January 5 meeting of the Exchange board of directors. In September, the Exchange announced that it would cease listing new contract months due to the uncertainty over potential changes in environmental regulation that might affect contract specifications. At that time, the Exchange stated its intention to continue to list at least nine months of trading in the contract. After trading in the January 2000 contract expires on December 30, there will be only eight months of gasoline futures contracts listed for trading. At its January 5 meeting, the board will consider changing the oxygen specification prior to listing new contracts. However, the Exchange has stated that the specifications for already listed contracts will remain unchanged, with an oxygen standard of 1.