Subject: ice continues to attract and consolidate liquidity
january 16 , 2002
ice continues to attract and consolidate liquidity
? average daily trading activity up 30 % in january
? new daily records set for north american power and gas
atlanta , ga ( january 16 , 2002 ) - ( ice ) , one of the
world ' s most liquid and fastest growing commodity marketplaces , announced
today that trading volumes continue to grow at a record pace with average
daily activity system - wide up 30 % over a month ago .
ice also again set new daily trading records with north american power
volume of more than 17 million mwhs ( megawatt hours ) on january 14 th and
north american natural gas volume of more than 630 bcf ( billion cubic feet )
traded on january 9 th .
" these volumes indicate that the market remains healthy despite the loss of
a major player and that liquidity continues to be attracted to the ice
platform , " said chuck vice , coo of . " the ability
for ice users to minimize exposure to any one firm by broadly distributing
business across a large and diverse group of counterparties , coupled with
our role as a neutral marketplace , is attracting incredible volume . we
expect this trend to continue in february as we begin offering clearing
services via the global banking and brokerage community which owns and
operates the london clearing house . "
to date , month over month comparisons by market on ice are as follows :
market mtd jan . ` 02 daily average % increase over dec . ` 01
daily average
north american power ( megawatt hours ) 12 million 51 %
north american gas ( cubic feet ) 415 billion 37 %
european gas ( therms ) 117 million 32 %
oil ( equivalent barrels ) 9 million 10 %
precious metals ( equivalent gold oz ) 600 , 000 100 %
ice emissions and weather derivative markets continue to be active as well
with january volumes to date doubling those in december .
as an open - access , multi - lateral electronic marketplace ,
 has built a strong track record for offering
increased liquidity and transparency to otc market participants . over 500
of the world ' s largest commodity trading firms are now ice participants .
about
 is one of the world ' s most liquid and fastest
growing commodity marketplaces , owned by over 100 of the world ' s leading
energy and metals traders , brokers and bankers .
the ice electronic trading system is installed on over 8 , 500 desktops
worldwide from which traders log on each day of the business week to trade
more than 600 listed commodity and derivative contract types . broadly ,
these include crude oil and refined products , natural gas , power , precious
metals , weather derivatives and emissions allowances . contract forms
include physical delivery as well as financially settled swaps , spreads ,
differentials and options based on a variety of fixed and floating price
indices .
based in atlanta ( and with offices in new york , houston , chicago , london and
singapore ) , ice is taking the technological revolution that occurred in
international financial markets and extending it into global commodity
markets .
 is the owner of the international petroleum
exchange of london ( ipe ) , europe ' s leading energy futures and options
exchange . the ipe provides highly regulated open outcry and electronic
marketplaces where industry participants use futures and options to minimize
their price risk exposure in the physical energy market .
products traded on ipe include brent crude futures and options , gas oil
futures and options , natural gas futures and electricity ( baseload ) futures .