[DantesPeak]

Even before Hurricane Gustav has entered the Gulf of Mexico, futures exchanges on Saturday have invoked special trading rules. The last time this occurred, in the wake of Hurricane Rita in 2005, it caused a frenzy among energy traders.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '8')/30/2008 9:22:00 AM Nymex Adds Energy Trading Hours Sunday In Response To Hurricane
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The scheduled Sunday restart of energy futures trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange was switched to an earlier time in anticipation of Hurricane Gustav, the exchange parent said.

Nymex owner CME Group Inc. (CME) said Friday that all energy products trading on the Globex electronic platform will open for trading at 2:30 p.m. EDT Sunday "in response to concerns about Hurricane Gustav." The products, which include benchmark crude oil, gasoline and natural gas futures, were originally scheduled to start trading at 6 p.m. Sunday.

The U.S.'s National Hurricane Center said Gustav regained hurricane wind speeds Friday and could reach the Gulf of Mexico late Saturday. The U.S. Gulf Coast is home to a quarter of the nation's crude output and 11% of its natural gas capacity and concerns about Gustav's impact have preoccupied energy traders in the past week. Nymex's over-the-counter ClearPort clearing and trading will also now reopen at 2:30 p.m. EDT Sunday, CME said.

[DantesPeak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Shannymara', 'C')an someone explain?

[Micki]

I don't see the sense in extending the hours either.
If anything, an emergency measure should keep the exchanges closed until we know what damage actually is done. Opening early just encourages panic trading.
Also, if information about these adjustments to trading hours don't reach all traders, then those who didn't hear about it will be left behind.

Furthermore it is hard to see who would go short on this trade now, the ones who already have short positions should have difficulty covering.

If I may wear the tinfoil hat for a little while again, this could be a way for the big players to drop the price based on paper trades, trigger of lots of automatic stoploss orders and then cover on these, similarly to what they have done with gold on the illiquid access market so many times.
If this happens, it is very blatant market manipulation, but the regulators have shown time after time that they aren't really interested sa long as the manipulation is carried out by the big commericals (banks).

[the48thronin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Shannymara', 'T')hanks for the information, DantesPeak. I don't understand why they would add extra hours in response to Gustav. Can someone explain? Thanks in advance. It will certainly give us something else to watch tomorrow afternoon.

[Niagara]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Micki', 'I') don't see the sense in extending the hours either.
If anything, an emergency measure should keep the exchanges closed until we know what damage actually is done. Opening early just encourages panic trading.

[Carlhole]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Niagara', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Micki', 'I') don't see the sense in extending the hours either. If anything, an emergency measure should keep the exchanges closed until we know what damage actually is done. Opening early just encourages panic trading.

[Rubin_Flagg]

Tuesday will be "Black Tuesday" I expect everything to melt down for the little guy. As for the big banks they are already trading in Asia. This is going to be a bloodbath.

[Micki]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Niagara', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Micki', 'I') don't see the sense in extending the hours either. If anything, an emergency measure should keep the exchanges closed until we know what damage actually is done. Opening early just encourages panic trading.

[smallpoxgirl]

Apparently no one is that excited about it. After 7 hours of trading, oil's up $1 and natural gas is down about $0.20.

[PeakingAroundtheCorner]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'A')pparently no one is that excited about it. After 7 hours of trading, oil's up $1 and natural gas is down about $0.20.

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PeakingAroundtheCorner', 'I') don't get it. Why is it going down?

[DantesPeak]

Here we go again:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')ymex Energy Trading To Have Early Sun Start On Hurricane Ike

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
September 10, 2008 7:34 p.m.

Electronic trading in oil, natural gas and other energy futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange will restart earlier than usual Sunday on concerns about Hurricane Ike, the exchange's parent said Wednesday.

All Nymex energy products will start trading at 1400 GMT (10 a.m. EDT) Sunday on the Globex and ClearPort electronic platforms, CME Group Inc. (CME) said. The contracts normally resume trading at 2200 GMT (6 p.m. EDT) on Sunday after a weekend break.

The schedule change comes as Hurricane Ike approaches the U.S. Gulf Coast, a center for oil and natural gas production and processing.

[DantesPeak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')ymex Declares Force Majeure On Aug, Sept Gas Contracts

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
September 13, 2008 11:17 a.m.

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The New York Mercantile Exchange has declared force majeure on the delivery of all August and September natural gas contracts, after the Henry Hub shut down ahead of Hurricane Ike.

Sabine Pipe Line LLC, a Chevron Corp. (CVX) unit, declared force majeure effective Friday night, the Nymex said in a statement. Nymex is owned by CME Group Inc. (CME) Force majeure is a contract clause releasing one or both parties from obligations due to a natural disaster or other uncontrollable event.

Henry Hub, in Erath, La., is the pricing point for all natural gas futures contracts traded on Nymex. The hub's closure is problematic for the market, as owners of expiring contracts would have no way to make or take delivery.