Curve

The cash market threw some traders a curve Tuesday. Instead of following the example of Monday’s screen plunge as had been expected, flat to barely lower numbers dominated at most points. Most declines were 3 cents or less, and only a few points fell by more than a nickel. The only significant upticks of more than a dime came in the Rockies with Kern River-Opal, Northwest Domestic, Cheyenne Hub and CIG all showing gains of 10 to 20 cents.

Kicking off 2002 on a strong note, IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) posted a notional value of trades done on Jan. 9 on its on-line exchange at more than $4.3 billion. The amount marked a 75% increase over December’s daily average of $2.5 billion, which was the record month for the year 2001.

Summing up its results for 2001, online energy trading company, IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), said by the end of 2001 the number of participating firms and users on ICE both increased by more than 400%. In addition, the company said that the number of trades executed on ICE grew 15 fold over that same period during 2000.

Representing the latest curve on what has become a very windyroad, Southwest Gas announced Wednesday it is reviewing SouthernUnion’s revised merger offer even though it already entered into amerger agreement with Oneok earlier this week. With two offers onthe table, Southwest Gas has said it will not comment further onthe subject until a decision is made, and industry analysts say thedecision will not be easy.