Exchange

NRG Energy Inc. pulled off a respectable first three days on theNew York Stock Exchange, as the independent power subsidiary ofNorthern States Power saw its initial public offering (IPO) closewell above its set price of $15 when the markets closed lastFriday. NRG opened at $15.88 on Wednesday, and closed on Friday at$17 1/4 on a volume of 913,000 shares.

NRG Energy Inc.pulled off a respectable first day on the New York Stock Exchange, asthe independent power subsidiary of Northern States Power saw itsinitial public offering (IPO) close well above its set price of$15. NRG opened at $15.88 and closed the day at $16.63 on a volume of8.1 million shares.

No bumps in the road so far for HoustonStreet.com, as tradersare motoring to its newest platform to buy and sell oil products.The web-based exchange expanded its virtual garage last Thursday,and now offers crude oil and refined product trading. The expansionadds to HoustonStreet’s energy markets, a cyber marketplace thathas been offering trades on wholesale power and natural gas salesnationwide since last summer.

kRoad Ventures LP made a significant investment in HoustonStreetExchange Inc. to finance the online energy trading system’s pondcrossing to Europe. New York City-based kRoad is a global venturecapital fund focused on the infrastructure sector (energy,utilities, water and waste management). kRoad brings tradingliquidity, sector experience and international business networksunique to its limited partners: Vivendi (Europe), Softbank (Asia)and Sithe (North America). kRoad’s investment is the cornerstone ofHoustonStreet’s international initiatives. kRoad, Vivendi andHoustonStreet agreed to structure a strategic partnership toestablish HoustonStreet Europe.

Even an abbreviated pre-holiday trading session at the New YorkMercantile Exchange gave traders no rest last Friday as the marketclawed its way higher from a “disappointing” open only to reverseright back down at the close. When all the dust had settled and theorders were tabulated, the March contract was off 3.4 cents for theday at $2.633.

It looks like NiSource is going to get a run for its money inthe second round of a bidding war for Columbia Energy Group.Columbia informed the Securities and Exchange Commission last weekthat it has received “preliminary indications of interest fromnumerous third parties” during an ongoing open house on the companyand its assets.

The Virginia Corporation Commission (SCC) has given finalapproval to the merger of Dominion Resources Inc. (DRI) andConsolidated Natural Gas Co. CNG). The SCC said it is satisfied therecent approval of the merger by the Securities and ExchangeCommission (SEC) is not inconsistent with the Virginia commission’sprevious orders. The SCC reserved the opportunity to review the SECorder to ensure that Virginia’s ability to safeguard Virginiaratepayers was maintained. The merger means the control of VirginiaNatural Gas (VNG), a subsidiary of CNG, will transfer to DRI, theparent company of Virginia Power.

It looks like NiSource is going to get a run for its money inthe second round of a bidding war for Columbia Energy Group.Columbia informed the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterdaythat it has received “preliminary indications of interest fromnumerous third parties” during an ongoing open house on the companyand its assets.

The New York Mercantile Exchange’s electricity futures contractsfailed to take off for a number of reasons but the market is worseoff because of their failure, according to Jack Cogen, president ofNew York City-based NatSource.