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The daily average volume of energy-related futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) grew from approximately 7340 in 1982 to 467,042 in the first half of 2002. Essentially all of these contracts involve natural gas and petroleum.
Today, natural gas and petroleum products are the second most heavily traded category of futures contracts on organized exchanges, after financial products, according to an Energy Information Administration (EIA) report, Derivatives and Risk Management in the Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Electricity Industries.
The growth in derivatives reflects the volatility of energy markets, the EIA says. Over the past decade, natural gas prices have been five times more volatile than the Standard and Poor's 500 stock index (S&P 500). Gasoline and heating oil have been about 2 1/2 times more volatile. Wholesale electricity prices have been 20 times more volatile than the S&P 500 over the past 5 years.
Unlike the oil and gas markets, derivatives in electricity markets have not met with a great deal of success. NYMEX began offering electricity ...