Chicago, 16 March 2011

CME Group today announced two new Brent crude futures crack spreads to be listed with implied functionality on CME Globex® for trade date on March 28, 2011.

Beginning Monday, Mar. 28, market participants will be able to hedge benchmark RBOB Gasoline futures (RB) and Heating Oil futures (HO) against NYMEX Brent Crude Oil Last Day Financial Futures (BZ). The new crack spreads will be available for electronic trading only on CME Globex® (RB:BZ and HO:BZ).

"The listing of these new Brent crude crack spreads builds on our strong commitment to meeting the needs of customers by extending our already robust slate of inter-commodity crude oil spreads," said Joe Raia, CME Group Managing Director, Energy & Metals Products. "Customers now have the ability to trade crack spreads on both WTI and Brent futures on a single trading platform and gain greater margin efficiencies."

According to Raia, volumes in energy futures are rising overall at a rapid pace, a reflection of the market's need for instruments to hedge commercial and financial risk.

During the month of February, the average daily volume (ADV) for WTI futures grew 37 percent year-over-year to nearly 1.2 million contracts; Heating Oil futures increased 33 percent to 142,000 contracts; RBOB Gasoline futures increased 14 percent to 126,000 contracts and Brent Last Day Financial futures increased significantly to 3,197 contracts.

CME Group Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures, Brent Crude Oil Last Day Financial Futures, RBOB Gasoline futures and Heating Oil futures contracts are listed by and subject to the rules of NYMEX.

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