Delisting of Certain Contract Months for Singapore Gasoil 0.05% Sulfur Platts Contracts

Effective close of business today, January 27, 2012, the New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. (NYMEX or Exchange) will delist contract months beyond the December 2012 contract for each of the three contracts listed below.  Contract months currently listed beyond the December 2012 contract have no open interest.  The three contracts are currently listed for trading on the NYMEX trading floor and for submission for clearing through CME ClearPort.

Please be reminded that Platts, the final settlement index provider for these contracts announced that effective January 2, 2013, they will lower the specification of their “Singapore Gasoil” assessment from the current 0.5% (5,000 ppm) to 0.05% (500 ppm) sulfur content. The Exchange already offers a Singapore Gasoil 0.5% outright (chapter 669, commodity code SG) and BALMO (chapter 496, commodity code VU) whose specifications will subsequently be modified by the Exchange upon the implementation of the lower the sulfur specification by Platts scheduled to occur in January 2013.  Consequently, the Exchange will stop listing contract months for contracts SZF (outright) and SZL (BALMO) beyond December 2012, in order to avoid listing duplicate contracts. With respect to the spread contract, Singapore Gasoil 0.05% vs. 0.5% Sulfur Spread (Platts) Swap Futures (SZZ), which the Exchange will also stop listing beyond December 2012, upon implementation of the lower sulfur specifications by Platts scheduled to occur in January 2013, both legs of the spread will become identical and therefore will eliminate the need for a spread contract.

Please refer questions on this subject to:

Research and Product Development:

Richard Stevens                        Richard.Stevens@cmegroup.com                      +44 20 7796 7129

Dan Brusstar                             Daniel.Brusstar@cmegroup.com                        212.299.2604

Owain Johnson                         Owain.Johnson@cmegroup.com                        +65 6593 5568