Cme Group News

A new set of independent indices for the liquified natural gas (LNG) seaborne trade went live this week (2 March), based on the carriers burning LNG, rather than marine fuel oil or marine gas oil, as their primary fuel.Published twice weekly, the new indices have been given the acronym (BLNGg) and will be published alongside the current LNG indices which are based on LNG carriers burning Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oil (VLSFO). Historical data for the new indices will be available dating…

Oil prices slumped again on Wednesday, with Brent falling to the lowest since 1999, as the market struggled with a massive crude glut amid a collapse in demand for everything from gasoline to jet fuel caused by the coronavirus outbreak.Brent crude, which fell 24% in the previous session, touched $15.98 a barrel, its lowest since June 1999. It was trading down $2.37, or 12%, at $16.96 at 0511 GMT.West Texas Intermediate was down 51 cents, or 4.4%, at $11.06 a barrel.The falls follow two of the wildest days in the history of oil trading…

CME Group on Thursday said it would add two more delivery points for its WTI Houston crude futures contract, pending regulatory review, as it seeks to provide customers with additional options to hedge physical price risk.* Beginning with the March 2020 contract, customers can take delivery of U.S.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc and Magellan Midstream Partners LP said on Wednesday they would auction dock capacity at Magellan's terminals in Galena Park and Seabrook, Texas, for holders of ICE's Permian West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures contracts.The monthly auction process will allow customers who purchase an ICE Permian WTI crude futures contract, deliverable at Magellan's East Houston terminal (MEH), the option to load crude directly onto a vessel at Galena Park and Seabrook dock facilities for export, the companies said.The capacity offered will be adequate to fill Panamax and Aframax size vessels, with Suezmax size vessels set to be added in the future.Earlier this year…

Grain barge shipping came to a near standstill in parts of the U.S. Midwest on Thursday as recent heavy rain and melting snow swelled rivers, halted barge loading and sidelined the towboats that haul farm belt crops to Gulf Coast export terminals. The flooded waterways sent cash premiums for corn barges delivered to Gulf Coast terminals soaring. Rates hit peaks on Thursday that have not been seen in 18 months, as exporters scrambled to secure enough grain to top off vessels bound for overseas markets, traders said. Barge lines suspended operations on northern sections of the Illinois River, with water levels already near record crests, or forecast to reach those levels by the weekend, according to National Weather Service river forecasts.

Matrix plans sweet crude storage futures at LOOP. Matrix Global Holdings is planning to start up an oil storage futures contract for low-sulphur crude oil that will enable companies to build up supplies for export cargoes, as Asia looks for more crude imports from the United States. The contract will give holders access to low-sulphur, or sweet, crude oil storage space at the Clovelly, Louisiana, terminal operated the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP). The contract is expected to start up in about six months, Richard Redoglia, Matrix's chief executive officer told Reuters. Matrix currently hosts a monthly auction for crude storage at the LOOP and it offers a high-sulphur, or sour, crude oil storage futures contract through the CME Group with delivery at the Offshore Port.

The CME Group Inc on Thursday said it lifted the majority of force majeure conditions invoked at corn and soybean shipping stations on the Illinois River earlier this month.   Force majeure conditions continue to exist at some exchange-approved corn and soybean shipping stations, which may prevent these facilities from loading, the CME said. Corn and soybean futures are traded on the CME's Chicago Board of Trade.   On May 4, the CME declared force majeure due to load-out impossibility at a majority of the exchange-approved regular facilities on the Illinois River due to high water levels and flooding.   Reporting by Apeksha Nair

With the United States about to become a net exporter of natural gas for the first time in 60 years, Intercontinental Exchange Inc said on Wednesday it would begin trading the first-ever U.S. liquefied natural gas futures contract in May. ICE said the contracts would be cash-settled against the Platts LNG Gulf Coast Marker price assessment and use Platts-derived U.S. GCM LNG forward curves for daily settlement purposes. The curves will have an initial term of 48 months. "Domestic and international market participants now have a risk-management solution that lays the foundation for a more effective means of hedging their spot and forward exposure," J.C. Kneale, ICE's vice president, North American power and natural gas markets, said in a statement. U.S.

The crisis in global shipping and a tax exodus by big Greek vessel owners have helped finally seal the fate of London's Baltic Exchange after at least three approaches to buy it over the last six years of its near-three centuries history. Some 95 percent of shareholders voted on Monday in favour of a takeover deal from Singapore Exchange, valued at 87 million pounds ($112.87 million), trumping more than one effort from the London Metal Exchange to snap it up. "For Baltic shareholders it does release value…

Total valuation of potential deal at least $113 million; Baltic shareholders key to clinching sale agreement. Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX) plans to buy one of London's oldest institutions, the Baltic Exchange where shipping rates are published, and urged shareholders on Thursday to support a deal. As the global shipping industry struggles with the worst market conditions for decades, SGX offered shareholders in the privately-owned Baltic Exchange 160.41 pounds in cash per share, for a total 77.6 million pounds ($102 million). Founded in 1744 as a forum for chartering vessels, the Baltic Exchange now produces benchmark indexes for global shipping rates and owns a trading platform for the multi-billion dollar freight derivatives market.

Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX) is readying a formal offer to buy London's Baltic Exchange following months of discussions that culminated in exclusive talks between both parties, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Founded in 1744, the privately-owned Baltic Exchange is no longer a forum for chartering vessels but owns benchmark indexes for global shipping rates and provides a trading platform for the multi-billion dollar freight derivatives market. The sources said both sides had reached key milestones for a deal to proceed and that SGX was getting ready to make a formal offer. The Baltic Exchange declined to comment, while an SGX spokeswoman referred to a May statement where it said both exchanges would benefit from new growth opportunities.

Baltic Exchange privately owned by 380 shareholders. The Singapore Exchange (SGX) is in exclusive talks to buy London's Baltic Exchange, which has been at the heart of the global shipping industry for centuries, the two companies said on Wednesday. Founded in 1744, the Baltic Exchange is no longer a forum for chartering vessels but owns benchmark indexes for global shipping rates and provides a trading platform for the multi-billion dollar freight derivatives market. The takeover talks come as the global shipping industry grapples with the worst market conditions for decades after a slump in commodity markets coincided with an increase in the number of vessels, sending freight costs to record lows.

Talks between the Baltic Exchange and a number of suitors are continuing, but any potential buyer of the business will have to provide assurances that its central role in shipping will not be "undermined", the Baltic's chairman said on Wednesday. On Feb. 26 the privately held Baltic Exchange confirmed it had received a number of "exploratory approaches" after the Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX) said it was seeking to buy the business. Both statements came a day after Reuters reported the Baltic had held talks with SGX and other potential buyers including CME Group, ICE and Platts. Sources had estimated the Baltic's valuation was $120 million.

The rising influence of Black Sea markets on world prices prompted Euronext to start working on developing futures contract that would allow price hedging in one of the world's largest export zones for the grain, it said on Friday. Production swings in the Black Sea and European Union have become the main drivers of world wheat prices to the detriment of Chicago futures as U.S. farmers increasingly turned to corn and soybean crops, analysts and traders said. "Having assessed the long-standing need for a proper price-setting mechanism in that production zone, we are now engaged in a serious reflection about a careful design," Euronext head of commodities Olivier Raevel told Reuters at the Cereals Europe conference in Geneva.

Euronext is to expand the number of port delivery points for wheat traded on its Paris-based futures market <0#BL2:> and is considering a system of storage certificates to cater for inland grain operators, the European exchange said on Tuesday. Its steps to reinforce its wheat futures, a price benchmark for the European market, come after it scrapped a short-lived premium wheat product, and as CME Group is moving closer to launching a rival European wheat contract. Euronext will launch an additional delivery point at the northern French port of Rouen from September 2017 after reaching an agreement with trading firm Lecureur to use its silo there, Olivier Raevel, head of commodities at Euronext, told Reuters.

China Merchants Group has made an informal bid for London’s Baltic Exchange, says a report in Reuters. The State-run conglomerate has made an informal offer through a subsidiary, China Merchants Securities. An acquisition of the Baltic, which was founded in 1744, would give the Chinese conglomerate ownership of the industry's benchmark indices - which could be further commercialized - and greater access to the multi-billion dollar freight derivatives market. It emerged in February that the Baltic Exchange, a financial maritime hub located in the heart of the City of London, was being eyed by several companies, including the Singapore Exchange, CME Group, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), and Platts. Japanese investment bank Nomura is advising the Baltic Exchange on a potential sale.

Baltic says holding discussions with several parties. The Baltic Exchange confirmed on Friday it had received a number of "exploratory approaches" after the Singapore Exchange Ltd revealed it was seeking to buy the business which has been the hub of the global shipping market for centuries. Reuters exclusively reported on Thursday that the Baltic Exchange had held talks with SGX and other potential buyers, months after sources had said the London Metals Exchange (LME) made an approach to buy it. "The Baltic Exchange confirms that it has received a number of exploratory approaches and that it is now in confidential discussions with selected third parties regarding its future strategy and ownership," it said in a statement.

CME Group has lifted its declaration of force majeure at all Illinois River terminals that are regular for Chicago Board of Trade corn and soybean futures delivery, the exchange said in a notice on Tuesday. CME declared force majeure on June 17 due to high water and flooding that made it impossible for the terminals, which are delivery points for CBOT corn and soy futures, to load grain. The exchange lifted force majeure at a majority of stations on July 22 as river levels dropped. All terminals are now able to load out, CME said.   Reporting by Julie Ingwersen

CME Group on Thursday said force majeure was no longer in effect at a majority of Illinois River terminals that are regular for Chicago Board of Trade corn and soybean futures delivery.   However, the exchange said force majeure conditions due to high water and flooding persisted at some delivery points that might prevent those facilities from loading.   At those locations, under CBOT rules, shippers must arrange for grain to be loaded at another regular facility not under force majeure.     (Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)

Baltex reaches breakeven level since start of 2015; Baltic previously faced broker opposition over platform. London's Baltic Exchange is studying a potential foray into commodities and is open to proposals on tie-ups as other exchanges attempt to boost volumes, its chief executive said. Baltex, the Baltic's digital shipping platform, was launched in 2011 as the first central electronic marketplace for freight forward agreements (FFAs), which allow investors to take positions on freight rates at a point in the future. Since the beginning of this year, the previously loss making platform, has reached break even levels after Baltex became a venue for presenting block futures at the start of December.

CME declares force majeure for corn, soy shipping stations due to floods   CME Group Inc declared force majeure for all corn and soybean shipping stations because of flooding on the Illinois River, according to a notice from the exchange operator on Wednesday.   A majority of facilities on the river, which are delivery points for crops traded on CME's Chicago Board of Trade, are unable to load crops due to high water levels, the notice said.     (Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

An upcoming river lock repair project in south Chicago has attracted the attention of exchange operator CME Group because the lock's closure could disrupt deliveries against its Chicago Board of Trade grain and soybean futures contracts. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will close the 64-year-old T.J. O'Brien lock and dam on the Cal-Sag Channel for two phases of repairs beginning on Nov. 3 and again on Jan. 19. It is the northernmost of eight locks on the Illinois Waterway system, near the entrance to Lake Michigan. Each closure will halt traffic there for 47 days and could make it more difficult or costly for buyers of futures contracts to take delivery of grain housed in Chicago since the lock lies within the contracts' delivery zone 1.