Open interest is the number of contracts that make up the outstanding obligations that have not been offset by an opposing sale or purchase. It is regarded as an indication of commercial participation in a market.
The current open interest represents approximately 15.8 million megawatt hours of electricity, 2.4 quadrillion British thermal units of natural gas, 12.5 million barrels of crude oil and refined products, and 1.1 million tons of coal.
Exchange President J. Robert Collins, Jr., said, "Achieving 1 million contracts in open interest for the NYMEX ClearPortsm product slate is a milestone indicating the priority that the energy industry continues to place on managing counterparty credit risk. These contracts for outright and basis trades for natural gas, crude oil, and refined products, electricity, and coal transactions complement the Exchange's core energy futures and options contracts that serve as the pricing benchmarks for these products."
