The New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) said it has electricity, and it plans to resume futures trading operations as soon as its building, which is in close proximity to the World Trade Center in New York City, is safely accessible. Nymex said it plans to clear any trades made on Sept. 11 against Sept. 10 settlement prices and will post these trades during the next trading session.

“At this point we don’t have a time” for resuming normal trading operations either on the electronic Access trading system or in an open outcry trading session on the floor of the exchange, Nymex spokeswoman Nachamah Jacobovits said at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Nymex officials were discussing their options Wednesday evening at a hotel in midtown Manhattan. She said a decision still might be made last night.

Meanwhile, Enron Corp. and fellow Houston-based energy trading firm Dynegy Inc. resumed physical trading for natural gas and electricity on Wednesday following Tuesday’s terrorist attacks. Both Enron and Dynegy bought and sold natural gas and power by telephone and over their online transaction platforms EnronOnline and Dynegydirect until 1 p.m. EDT.

“We see no reason for North American natural gas and power markets to become unstable in the aftermath of [Tuesday’s] tragedies,” said Greg Whalley, Enron COO. “These are domestic commodities, and the physical infrastructure is secure and operating.” Enron, the largest worldwide trader, has about 4,000 transactions worth nearly $2.5 billion traded daily through EnronOnline. Another 400 to 500 telephone trades also are transacted daily.

Enron’s and Dynegy’s markets outside of North America operated according to their normal schedule. None of the trading companies’ facilities were impacted by Tuesday’s events, however, both closed their corporate offices in Houston for the day on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the IntercontinentalExchange said electronic trading on the ICE system was proceeding normally on Wednesday although volumes were light. “We operated all day yesterday and today as well. But it’s been a quiet day,” he said.

TradeSpark, another widely used energy trading system, has been down since the attack on the World Trade Center and there has been no word if the exchange will resume normal operations.

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