Electronic

About 43% of respondents to an informal electronic poll of attendees at one independent producers session at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston last week found that they expect commodity prices to stay roughly the same for the next three to five years. However, 38% of the respondents think that oil prices will drop back to $40-60/bbl soon.

About 43% of respondents to an informal electronic poll of attendees at one independent producers session at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston Wednesday found that they expect commodity prices to stay roughly the same for the next three to five years. However, 38% of the respondents think that oil prices will drop back to $40-60/bbl soon.

The New York Mercantile Exchange said it set daily volume records for natural gas, heating oil and RBOB gasoline futures on the CME Globex electronic trading platform Wednesday. The new gas futures totals broke a record set just one day earlier. Natural gas futures trading on Globex on Wednesday reached a record 137,562 contracts, exceeding the 130,627 contracts traded on Tuesday. Heating oil futures totaled 72,676 contracts, surpassing the 63,577 contracts traded on Jan. 12. And RBOB gasoline futures traded 52,032 contracts, beating the 49,969 contracts traded on Jan. 9. Globex trading volumes now regularly represent more than 70% of the total physically settled Nymex energy futures contracts. Nymex launched its physically settled futures contracts for trading on Globex during regular open outcry trading hours on Sept. 5, 2006, following its initial offering of financially settled, standard-sized and miNY energy futures contracts for trading on Globex on June 12.

Electronic energy marketplace IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) last week reported annual volume and commission records in its futures and over-the-counter (OTC) businesses. For the ninth consecutive year, the Atlanta-based company reported that ICE Futures — the company’s futures business segment — established an annual volume record, with traded contract volume in 2006 exceeding the previous record set in 2005 by more than 120%.

Electronic energy marketplace IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) on Wednesday reported annual volume and commission records in its futures and over-the-counter (OTC) businesses. For the ninth consecutive year, the Atlanta-based company reported that ICE Futures — the company’s futures business segment — established an annual volume record, with traded contract volume in 2006 exceeding the previous record set in 2005 by more than 120%.

After dipping below the psychological $7 level in Monday’s overnight electronic trading session on Globex, traders on Tuesday were unable to muster any follow-through selling. However, they also were not able to create any real rally as the prompt month ended up closing out the day at $7.083, up eight-tenths of a cent from Monday’s close.

The New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) said Friday that its members are still prepared to vote Monday (Dec. 11) on the $1 billion-plus merger with Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), despite pending legal action from a “substantial” number of NYBOT permit holders who feel they are being unfairly left out of the deal.

The New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) said Friday that its members are still prepared to vote Monday on the $1 billion-plus merger with Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), despite pending legal action from a “substantial” number of NYBOT permit holders who feel they are being unfairly left out of the deal.

Dominion Transmission will begin an open season on Tuesday to solicit interest in its proposed Dominion Hub Project, which would be designed to receive and store new natural gas supplies from the western United States for delivery throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The open season, which will end June 27, will solicit interest in 18 million Dth of storage capacity with 300,000 Dth/d of deliverability.