Debuted

A new coalition — the Energy Initiative Coalition — debuted in Washington, DC Friday. The group, which is co-chaired by former Sen. John Breaux of Louisiana and former Long Beach, CA, mayor Beverly O’Neill, will be different from other energy coalitions that focus solely on the interests of one group, said a Breaux spokesman.

A new coalition — the Energy Initiative Coalition — debuted in Washington, DC Friday. The group, which is co-chaired by former Sen. John Breaux of Louisiana and former Long Beach, CA, mayor Beverly O’Neill, will be different from other energy coalitions that focus solely on the interests of one group, said a Breaux spokesman.

NiSource Inc. Monday debuted a new section of its internet Web site highlighting the company’s extensive corporate governance practices. The NiSource Board of Directors recently approved updated corporate governance guidelines, which are available via the company’s Web site along with NiSource’s code of ethics, business ethics program, biographies of the company’s board members and senior management, organizational documents, board committee membership and charters and other information. The company’s corporate governance guidelines define the systems and processes by which the company ensures appropriate accountability and openness in the conduct of its business. The information is available via the company’s home page, www.nisource.com in the Investor Relations section.

A new natural gas marketing company, formed by five leading oil and natural gas income trusts in Canada, debuted this week and hopes to fill some of the void left by the fast exits of the big marketers in the United States and Canada.

TradeSpark LP, the electronic and voice brokerage energy trading marketplace that debuted less than a year ago, said last week it had more than doubled its overall transaction volumes in just three months, trading more than $41.9 billion (notional value) in energy products in the second quarter, a 131% increase over the trades made in the first quarter of the year.

TradeSpark LP, the electronic and voice brokerage energy trading marketplace that debuted less than a year ago, said Tuesday it had more than doubled its overall transaction volumes in just three months, trading more than $41.9 billion (notional value) in energy products in the second quarter, a 131% increase over the trades made in the first quarter of the year.

It wasn’t the first trade conducted on EnronOnline when itdebuted last November that CEO Louise Kitchen was excited about.Rather, it was a trade by someone who liked to handle histransactions in a casual way, what she called a “golf course”trader.” When he completed a petroleum transaction on EnronOnline’ssystem last year, Kitchen said she knew Enron’s new launch would besuccessful.

The November contract debuted as the prompt month yesterday byposting modest gains during a quiet trading session that saw nofresh news. November opened lower and quickly tested Monday’s $2.27low, but light commercial buying helped drive the market up 4.5cents to settle at 2.347 for the day. Estimated volume was a modest33,428.

September debuted as the spot Nymex contract Thursday in afairly uneventful fashion, by first trading briefly higher, beforelight selling pushed the market down to settle at $1.906, a 2.7cent loss for the day. Traders continue to point to the currentdowntrend that “exerts its influence on this market at every turn,”as a reason for the move lower. “[Thursday] there was not muchimpetus to move higher or lower, but the mentality in this marketcontinues to be buy little dips and sell the rest of the time,” atrader offered.