LONDON, Feb. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE), a leading operator of global regulated futures exchanges, clearing houses and over-the-counter (OTC) markets, announced today that the ICE U.K. National Balancing Point (NBP) Natural Gas Futures contract achieved a daily volume record of 68,495 (equivalent to 2 billion therms) on February 22, 2012, surpassing the previous record of 68,260 contracts on August 30, 2011.   

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The ICE U.K. NBP Natural Gas Futures contract is the leading benchmark for U.K. natural gas, with the contract seeing an increase in volumes and open interest during the last twelve months. Total trading volumes were over 6 million in 2011, an increase of 44% on 2010.

Open interest is at record levels, increasing from 303,012 at the start of February to a high of 348,218 contracts on February 20, 2012.  Average daily volume for ICE U.K. NBP Natural Gas Futures is 43,703 lots month to date in February 2012.

The ICE UK NBP Natural Gas Options contract also set an open interest record of 116,920 lots on February 22, 2012.

In addition to U.K. NBP Futures and Options, ICE Futures Europe also lists Dutch TTF Natural Gas Futures and Options and German NetConnect Germany (NCG) and GASPOOL Futures contracts.

About IntercontinentalExchange

IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE) is a leading operator of regulated futures exchanges and over-the-counter markets for agricultural, credit, currency, emissions, energy and equity index contracts. ICE Futures Europe hosts trade in half of the world's crude and refined oil futures. ICE Futures U.S. and ICE Futures Canada list agricultural, currencies and Russell Index markets. ICE is also a leading operator of central clearing services for the futures and over-the-counter markets, with five regulated clearing houses across North America and Europe. ICE serves customers in more than 70 countries. www.theice.com  

The following are trademarks of IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. and/or its affiliated companies: IntercontinentalExchange, ICE, ICE and block design, ICE Futures Europe and ICE Clear Europe. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For more information regarding registered trademarks owned by IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. and/or its affiliated companies, see https://www.theice.com/terms.jhtml

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 - Statements in this press release regarding IntercontinentalExchange's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011, as filed with the SEC on February 8, 2012. 

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SOURCE IntercontinentalExchange