Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) announced today that the low-sulfur natural gas markets set a series of record open rates through June 2024, reaching a high of 1.2 million in futures and options on July 1, 2024, which equivalent to 120 million metric tons.
ICE Low Sulfur Gasoil is at the heart of the middle distillates market as a global benchmark for refined petroleum products. Oil futures and options are up more than 40% year-on-year (y-o-y), with trading volume up 30% year-on-year.
Oil options activity performed particularly well, recording open interest of 234,570 contracts on July 3, while Gasoil options traded at record levels in the second quarter of 2024 at 287,421 options. During the second quarter of 2024, a record approximately 16.2 million oil options contracts were traded on the ICE, including a record 13.5 million Brent options contracts. Customers can benefit from margin offsets of up to 98% when clearing ICE Gasoil alongside other fuel positions on ICE.
ICE Gasoil is a physically deliverable futures contract for ultra-low sulfur diesel. An average of over 100,000 tonnes have entered the delivery process each month since early 2024.
ICE Low Sulfur Gasoil is part of ICE’s global portfolio of crude and refined products that includes Brent crude oil, the price barometer for three-quarters of the world’s international crude oil trade, along with ICE Midland WTI (HOU), ICE WTI (Cushing), ICE Dubai (Platts), ICE Murban, as well as NY Harbor RBOB Benzine and Heating Oil. These benchmarks are supported by more than 800 related petroleum products, enabling participants to manage product price points at the point of consumption or production worldwide. Open interest in ICE’s global oil complex is up more than 20% at 14 million contracts.