Shares of CME Group edged lower Wednesday morning after the derivatives platform operator said it sealed a definite deal with LOOP LLC and NEO Markets to develop the first-ever physically-delivered crude oil storage futures contract named LOOP Crude Oil Storage futures contract.
LOOP is the operator of the largest privately-owned crude oil terminal in the U.S. and NEO Markets is a leading online marketplace for U.S. physical oil transactions.
The new futures contract will begin trading on Sunday, March 29 and will provide participants with an ETF contract based on crude oil storage capacity at LOOP’s Clovelly hub in Louisiana, starting with the May 2015 contract month. Each futures contract will represent the right to store 1,000 barrels of crude oil at the hub for a specific month.
“We believe this innovative new solution will help customers manage their physical crude storage price risk, while enhancing price discovery and access to short-term storage capacity along the U.S. Gulf Coast,” said Martin Fraenkel, global head of energy products at CME Group.
In recent morning trade, CME was down 0.7% at $96.41, edging away from the top end of the 52-week range of $66.44 to $97.18.
