Interest in New York Mercantile Exchange Light Sweet Crude Oil futures contracts (WTI) for delivery five or more years out declined in the wake of the shale boom, “primarily due to structural changes in physical crude oil caused by the growth of U.S. tight oil production,” according to analysts at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). In general, volume and open interest in the contract remains robust, but open interest in futures contracts for delivery five or more years into the future has declined, according to a report by staff of CFTC’s Market Intelligence Branch. Oil prices and developments in financial regulation may have had a secondary effect on interest in the same WTI contracts, according to the report. At the time of the study, WTI was trading at about $60/bbl, compared with about $140/bbl in late 2007 and early 2008.