Business
Global Participants Hedge Oil Risk at Record Levels Across ICE’s Canadian Crude and Midland WTI (HOU) Markets Through January 2026
CALGARY, Canada & HOUSTON, February 06, 2026--Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data and home to the most liquid energy markets in the world, today announced that January 2026 saw record trading activity in ICE’s Midland WTI (HOU) and Canadian crude oil markets as customers manage the impact on oil flows from the return of Venezuela as an oil exporter.
About this update from Intercontinental Exchange Inc.
[{"type":"image","alt":"","displaySize":"","headline":null,"caption":"","credit":null,"className":"","disableSlideshowImg":false,"size":{"original":{"width":447,"height":439,"url":"https://media.zenfs.com/en/business-wire.com/922958a33a265c6dcfd21f8bb429f2ea"},"resized":{"url":"https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/ojIX6paHGPf0zNV._csObQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTY5MjtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/business-wire.com/922958a33a265c6dcfd21f8bb429f2ea","width":447,"height":439}},"lazy":false},{"type":"text","content":"CALGARY, Canada & HOUSTON, February 06, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data and home to the most liquid energy markets in the world, today announced that January 2026 saw record trading activity in ICE’s Midland WTI (HOU) and Canadian crude oil markets as customers manage the impact on oil flows from the return of Venezuela as an oil exporter.","length":429,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":""The return of Venezuelan crude has created potential new competition for Canadian oil on the U.S. Gulf Coast and in other export markets, including China. In China, it’s more than Venezuelan crude competing with Canadian; growing flows of inexpensive Russian crude are also competing with Canadian barrels, as Chinese demand is replacing Indian demand, which has dropped due to sanctions on Russia," said Jeff Barbuto, SVP, Global Oil Markets at ICE.","length":461,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":""Adding to this, severe U.S. winter weather has further impacted production and refining dynamics at a time when Iran geopolitical tensions have influenced risk premiums in the oil market. These are complex global dynamics which have seen Canadian crude facing increased competition from multiple sources and driven record oil trading through January in ICE's Midland WTI (HOU) and Western Canadian futures markets," continued Barbuto.","length":449,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"Volume records in January 2026 include:","length":39,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"list","items":[{"val":[{"type":"text","content":"ICE Midland WTI (HOU), the benchmark for pricing U.S. crude production and exports, traded a record 1.9 million contracts during the month, with record Average Daily Volume (ADV) of 96,388 contracts. HOU hit consecutive single-day ...