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ICE Futures Announces Revisions to Gas Oil Futures Contract Specifications

Posted on: Friday, 23 June 2006, 12:00 CDT

LONDON, June 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ICE Futures, the regulated futures subsidiary of IntercontinentalExchange , announced contract revisions for the ICE Futures Gas Oil Futures Contract (ICE Gas Oil futures). The contract amendment is the result of European Union regulations to reduce sulphur content in gas oil and will be in effect immediately for the January 2008 contract and all subsequent contract months. The specification for the sulphur content of gas oil will be reduced from 0.2% maximum by mass to 0.1% maximum by mass. All other quality specifications for the contract are unchanged.

A flexible and liquid contract, ICE Futures' Gas Oil futures contract has developed into a benchmark for spot middle distillate. Its underlying physical market is heating oil barges delivered in Antwerp, Rotterdam and Amsterdam (ARA). It is used as the pricing reference for distillate trading in Europe and beyond.

Introduced in 1981, Gas Oil was the first ICE Futures contract launched and is often referred to as heating oil in Europe and the United States. Today it is the leading global benchmark for heating oil futures by traded volume. ICE Gas Oil futures are closely associated with the physical market and are based on physical delivery in the ARA area. Final settlement of the contract is made by delivery or tender of the physical commodity; however, the contract is largely cash settled.

About IntercontinentalExchange

IntercontinentalExchange(R) operates the leading global, electronic marketplace for trading both futures and OTC energy contracts. ICE offers a range of contracts based on crude oil and refined products, natural gas, power and emissions. ICE conducts its futures markets through its regulated London-based subsidiary, ICE Futures, Europe's leading energy exchange. ICE Futures offers liquid markets in the world's leading oil benchmarks: Brent Crude futures and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude futures, as well as the leading heating oil futures contract. ICE introduced the concept of cleared OTC energy contracts and today offers the most liquid and transparent electronic OTC market in North America. ICE also offers a range of risk management and trading support services, including customized energy market data offerings through its ICE Data business unit and electronic trade confirmations. Headquartered in Atlanta, ICE also has offices in Calgary, Chicago, Houston, London, New York and Singapore, with regional telecommunications hubs in London, Chicago and Singapore. For more information, please visit http://www.theice.com/.

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 such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in Item 1(A) of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K (File No. 001-32671), as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 10, 2006, and the risk factors in the Registration Statement on Form S-1, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 16, 2006.

IntercontinentalExchange

CONTACT: Kelly Loeffler, VP, Investor and Public Relations ofIntercontinentalExchange, +1-770-857-4726, or kelly.loeffler@theice.com; orEllen Resnick of Crystal Clear Communications, +1-773-929-9292, or cell,+1-312-399-9295, or eresnick@crystalclearPR.com

Web site: http://www.theice.com/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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