Tractebel North America Inc., a mid-sized energy marketing company, has exited the speculative trading business, following the lead of nearly all the major players once in the marketplace. Three employees were laid off in Tractebel’s Houston office and the rest of the 30-member trading group was offered other positions in the company, according to a spokesperson.

“We’re not shutting anything down as much as we’re repositioning to where we can grow and be profitable,” said company spokeswoman Paula Rockstroh. She said the company saw no growth in speculative trading, adding that its asset-based trading would increase as its worldwide portfolio increases. The company did not disclose any details as to the extent of its trading business in North America or how much it had earned or lost in the trading arm.

Tractebel North America, a unit of European utility Suez, had announced internally in early April that it would unwind its existing trading positions over the next few months to concentrate on marketing the output of its assets. Tractebel has about 2,700 MW of generating capacity in North America. Two new power plants in Texas and the state of Washington will come online this year, which will add another 1,220 MW. Tractebel later this year also plans to begin marketing the output of another 900 MW plant in Louisiana operated by American Electric Power.

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