El Paso said that its investigation of the reports has not been completed, but it expects to have preliminary results in about two weeks.

To date, “the company has identified at least one incident in which it appears that inaccurate pricing information may have been provided to a trade publication. At the conclusion of the investigation, the company will update its disclosures and take appropriate action as necessary.” It did not identify the publication, nor the details.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is investigating the manipulation of western energy markets, requested data from several of the top natural gas marketers based on 2001 physical sales volumes. The request seeks information on gas prices that were submitted to energy trade journals that publish natural gas price indexes.

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