CapacityCenter.com, which tracks released capacity transactions across the North American pipeline grid, said 15.6 Tcf of released capacity was traded last year, nearly 75% of total U.S. gas consumption, and the top 25 capacity traders did 49% of the transactions representing about 72% of the total.

El Paso was the lead trader with 2.5 Tcf, followed by Duke with 972 Bcf, BP with 934 Bcf, Enron with 800 Bcf and Williams with 688 Bcf. Coral, Southstar Energy, Reliant, Dynegy and Scana rounded out the top 10 capacity traders by volume.

Nearly 10,000 transactions for this year were done in 2001 on a forward basis, CapacityCenter.com said. Year to date 2002, there have been 3,900 deals traded, involving 1.8 TCF of 2002 capacity. “If the trend continues for 2002, we expect a 21% increase over 2001 in the volume traded for the capacity release market,” said Greg Lander, president of CapacityCenter.com.

He said it is significant that the forward market is even more concentrated, as those trades done in or before 2002 for 2002 capacity showed that 80% of the forward deals (long-term) were done by the top 25 traders.

The report is available for free by registering at www.capacitycenter.com. The company maintains a comprehensive historical database and real-time pipeline and capacity release information. Real time data is delivered to members in an e-mail format. CapacityCenter.com also creates historical reports, and provides consulting and analysis to assist clients with strategic business decisions and market analysis.

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