The International Exchange, now ICE Futures (since 2005-04-7), based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, was one of the world's largest energy futures and options exchanges. Its flagship commodity, ''

Brent Crude Brent Crude may refer to any or all of the components of the Brent Complex, a physically and financially traded oil market based around the North Sea of Northwest Europe; colloquially, Brent Crude usually refers to the price of the ICE (Intercon ...

'' was a world benchmark for oil prices, but the exchange also handled

futures contract In finance, a futures contract (sometimes called a futures) is a standardized legal contract to buy or sell something at a predetermined price for delivery at a specified time in the future, between parties not yet known to each other. The asset ...

s and options on fuel oil,

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describ ...

(baseload and peakload), coal contracts and, as of 22 April 2005,

carbon emission Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and larg ...

allowances with the

European Climate Exchange The European Climate Exchange (ECX) managed the product development and marketing for ECX Carbon Financial Instruments (ECX CFIs), listed and admitted for trading on the ICE Futures Europe electronic platform. For a time it was a subsidiary of the ...

(ECX). The IPE was acquired by the

Intercontinental Exchange Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) is an American company formed in 2000 that operates global financial exchanges and clearing houses and provides mortgage technology, data and listing services. Listed on the Fortune 500, S&P 500, and Russe ...

in 2001. The IPE was an open outcry exchange until 7 April 2005, when its name was changed to ICE Futures and all trading was shifted onto an

electronic trading platform In finance, an electronic trading platform also known as an online trading platform, is a computer software program that can be used to place orders for financial products over a network with a financial intermediary. Various financial products ...

."Open outcry trading to end on IPE"
''BBC News'', 7 April 2005

History

Until the 1970s, the price of oil was relatively stable with production largely controlled by the biggest oil companies. During that decade two oil price shocks led to continued price volatility in the market; short-term physical markets evolved, and the need to hedge emerged. A group of energy and futures companies founded the IPE in 1980, and the first contract, for gas oil futures, was launched the following year. In June 1988, the IPE launched

futures. Since its inception, oil futures and latterly options have been traded in pits on the trading floor using the open outcry system. As business volumes have grown, the IPE has moved location several times to accommodate new pits and more traders. The Exchange has experienced incremental growth, year-on-year for most of its history. Complexity, but also efficiency have increased as new trading instruments such as swaps, futures, and options have been developed.

Contracts

Since 1997, the ICE Futures has expanded its offerings from Brent Crude and Gas Oil to include Natural Gas (1997), Electricity (2004), and ECX carbon financial instruments (2005). These expansions have allowed ICE Futures to offer a wider range of energy products. More advanced transactions are also now possible, due to cross- and multi-product transactions, which eliminate the need to use multiple markets or an adviser.

References

External links

ICE

History

Contracts

References

External links

See also