(Adds details and comment from Platts, paragraphs 8 and 9)

NEW YORK, April 24 (Reuters) - The New York Mercantile
Exchange is mulling whether to extend trading hours for oil
futures contracts, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

The current 2:30 p.m. close for oil futures could be
extended to 3:15 p.m. ET, in the next few months, according to
traders contacted by Reuters.

"We are speaking to our customers and trying to determine
what is best for them, but no decision has been made," said Anu
Ahluwalia, associate director for corporate communications at
CME Group Inc CME.N, NYMEX's parent.

To arrive at the settlement price of an oil futures
contract, NYMEX currently uses the weighted average of prices
in the last two minutes of the session, from 2:28 p.m. to 2:30
p.m.

The traders said that if the closing time is extended, the
last two minutes of trading -- from 3:13 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. --
will likely be maintained.

Oil Price Information Service, a trade publication based in
Gaithersburg, Maryland, said in a report on Friday that Platts,
an energy information provider based in New York, has proposed
some changes in its U.S. spot-pricing methodologies, including
a plan to mark the U.S. oil futures market at 3:15 p.m.

Platts, which is in talks with NYMEX, proposes to implement
the plan on June 1, according to the OPIS report.

"In February, we announced that we were proposing to use a
3:15 ET futures values in our assessment process for Americas
crude oil and refined products and began taking comments from
the industry and interested parties," said Kathleen Tanzy,
director of communications at Platts.

"We are still in process of collecting comments," she
added.

OPIS quoted Bob Levin, CME Group managing director for
energy and metals research, as saying that NYMEX had not
reached a final decision on the matter.

NYMEX, the biggest exchange for crude oil futures,
shortened its trading hours after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
on the World Trade Center devastated transportation in the
area.

The NYMEX's main trading floor is located in a building not
far from the site of the attack in lower Manhattan.

Before the attacks, NYMEX closed its energy futures trading
session at 3:10 p.m. It shortened trading hours to a 2:30 p.m.
closing after resuming trading following days of chaos in the
area.

The transportation problems have been resolved, but NYMEX
has not returned to its old schedule for settlement.

NYMEX, which has more than 130 years of trading history,
agreed to be acquired by CME Group Inc CME.N, the world's
largest derivatives exchange, in a merger deal last year.
(Reporting by Gene Ramos, Robert Gibbons and Joe Silha;
Editing by Walter Bagley)