New York (Platts)--26Jun2012/434 pm EDT/2034 GMT

Open interest in the NYMEX September $70 crude put option has risen above open interest for the $80 put option, as the underlying futures contract has fallen below $80/barrel, exchange data showed Tuesday.

Open interest in the September $70 crude put was at 20,098 contracts Monday, compared to 18,230 lots for the September $80 put.

Open interest in the September $70 crude put climbed above the $80 put on June 21, when the underlying September crude futures price fell $3.28 to $78.56/b. On the same day, daily volume in the $70 put climbed to 12,842 lots from 2,234 lots the prior trading day, as traders moved to cover a new floor in the rapidly declining futures contract. Daily volume on Monday was just 1,777 lots.

Open interest for the $70 put had been steadily climbing, from 5,804 lots on May 4, although a big one-day jump was seen on May 14 -- to 13,731 lots from 6,698 lots.

This has coincided with a $27.24 drop in the underlying September crude contract, from $106.86/b on May 1.

Meanwhile, open interest in the August $90 call for NYMEX crude options has climbed while the outright futures price has fallen, showing some bullish bets are being placed as well.

Open interest at 15,353 contracts on Monday was up from 4,402 lots on June 1, and just 138 lots on May 1. Open interest in the August $100 call slipped Monday to 19,580 lots from 20,913 lots the prior trading day, but remained well above the 2,094 contracts level seen in June 1.

The NYMEX open interest data is delayed by one day.

--James Bambino, james_bambino@platts.com 
--Jeff Mower, jeff_mower@platts.com 
--Edited by Kevin Saville, kevin_saville@platts.com

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