The New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. said that it saw record volumes Monday, and it also raised margin requirements on a variety of contracts as the impact of hurricane Katrina caused a declaration of ‘force majeure’ in certain natural gas contracts.

The delivery committee of the NYMEX decided that, based upon the shutdown and force majeure declaration by the Sabine Pipeline, which operates the Henry Hub facility in Louisiana, all remaining delivery obligations in the August contract month are operating under force majeure, too. This measure excuses counterparties from liability if an event such as a natural disaster prevents them from delivering on a contract.

The committee reports that it is currently in contact with Sabine regarding handling of any outstanding delivery obligations, and all market participants with any outstanding August 2005 natural gas futures obligations will be advised of any further decisions by the committee.

At the same time, the NYMEX reports that it set daily volume records for overall volume and for natural gas and heating oil futures contracts for trade date August 29. Overall volume on NYMEX ACCESS reached 100,767 contracts, exceeding the 100,568 contracts traded on July 7. Natural gas futures hit 18,333 contracts, surpassing the 18,010 contracts traded on February 25, 2003. Heating oil futures traded 8,457 contracts, breaking the previous record of 7,023 contracts traded on November 9, 2004.

NYMEX president James Newsome said, “We are pleased that the marketplace has taken advantage of our electronic trading platform to continue conducting business overnight. NYMEX strives to give its customers the best trading tools available to help mitigate their risk.”

Finally, the exchange announced that it would change the margins for certain contracts, including natural gas and gasoline futures.