The initial price limits for light, sweet crude oil futures now will be $10.00 per barrel in all months (previously $7.50 in the first two months and previously $3.00 in all other months). The initial Henry Hub natural gas futures limits now will be $3.00 per mmBtu in all months (previously $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. In particular, the amendments eliminate the existing two-minute notice period that has been used before the commencement of a trading halt. 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 an initial price limit 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. In other words, the market would continue to be expanded $10.00 per barrel in both directions after each successive five-minute trading halt, and there will be no maximum price fluctuation limit on these energy futures contracts during any one trading session.

The price limit levels for NYMEX ACCESS® will be identical to those for open outcry trading in the same products, but unlike open outcry the market will halt as soon as there is a trade, bid, or offer that touches the limit and will reopen as soon as the new expanded price limits are set. Please note that as a result of the rule amendments that will be going into effect tomorrow, the Exchange is also terminating tomorrow an Exchange Resolution concerning price limits on NYMEX ACCESS® that was the subject of a recent Notice to Members (03-101 issued March 4, 2003)

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, e.g., natural gas basis contracts for the natural gas futures contract, 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 market resumes trading. For example, if the crude oil market is halted for five minutes, when trading resumes in that market, the price limits for heating oil and gasoline will be expanded even though there was no market halt in either of these markets.

Under the rules that have been in effect until now, 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 rules have called for futures and options contracts to close for 15 minutes and the limits to expand on either side of the previous limits, but there could be no further price fluctuation.

The Exchange also will eliminate all limits during the last 15 minutes of trading and will eliminate all trading ranges for its post-close trading sessions in its energy markets for every trading session.

Finally, the Exchange is amending the price limit rules for crude oil, heating oil, gasoline and propane to provide that there will be no price limits for any contract month throughout the last trading day of an expiring contract month in the applicable commodity. By comparison, for natural gas, the rule will remain the same so that there will be no price limits for any contract month throughout the trading session during the last three trading days of an expiring contract month.