OREANDA-NEWS. CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced the launch of six new West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Houston (Argus) Crude Oil futures contracts.  These new cash-settled futures will be available for trading on CME Globex and for submission for clearing via CME ClearPort effective Feb. 8, 2016, pending all relevant regulatory review periods. This contract will be listed with and subject to the rules and regulations of NYMEX.

"The recent lifting of the U.S. crude oil export ban, increased market volatility, and infrastructure changes have stirred demand for Gulf Coast products," said Peter Keavey, CME Group Executive Director of Energy Products.  "Launching six new WTI Houston crude contracts gives our clients greater ability to participate in the rapidly-evolving WTI market and meet their global trading and risk management needs."

These contracts will all be listed for the current year plus three consecutive years. They are designed to complement CME Group's existing benchmark North American Crude Grade contracts and allow market participants to more accurately manage their risk exposure with the increasing volume of WTI traded in Houston.

The contract size will be 1,000 barrels with minimum tick size of $0.01 per barrel. For more information on WTI Houston (Argus) Crude Oil futures, please visit www.cmegroup.com/wti.

As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage risk. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather and real estate. CME Group brings buyers and sellers together through its CME Globex® electronic trading platform, its trading facilities in New York and Chicago, and through its London-based CME Europe derivatives exchange.  CME Group also operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers through CME Clearing and CME Clearing Europe, which offer clearing and settlement services across asset classes for exchange-traded contracts and over-the-counter derivatives transactions.  These products and services ensure that businesses everywhere can substantially mitigate counterparty credit risk.

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