Cicago, 24 February 2011

Commodities Now: CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse energy marketplace, today announced the third record volume for its global benchmark Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) options contracts since the beginning of 2011. On Wednesday, Feb. 23, WTI options reached a record 324,655 contracts, surpassing the previous record of 294,411 contracts set on Jan. 31, which represents a 10.3 percent increase from the prior record.

"CME Group is the leading crude oil options marketplace for both WTI and Brent Crude Oil," said Joe Raia, CME Group Managing Director, Energy & Metals Products. "As unrest continues in key parts of the world, customers around the world come to CME Group to manage their crude oil risk because of the depth of liquidity and unmatched transparency of our products."

CME Group NYMEX WTI is the largest, deepest and most liquid global energy market benchmark, trading more than 1.1 million futures and options contracts daily – on average more than double the size of its nearest competitor.

CME Group Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures and options contracts are listed by and subject to the rules of NYMEX.

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