Nymex confirms plans to launch in London

The New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) today announced plans to open an open-outcry Brent futures floor in London. "It's our intention to move to London as soon as possible," Nymex president James Newsome told reporters in London.

The announcement came at the start of IP Week - the round of meetings and seminars for which energy traders gather in London every February - and ends weeks of speculation over such a move.

Newsome even joked that Nymex's plans to move to London - which would put the exchange in direct competition with the International Petroleum Exchange - are "the worst kept secret" in the energy trading world.

However, further details of the plans were sketchy. There is so far no definite site for the